P and I just celebrated our 50th month-versary - a milestone in our life together. It was nice that we got to celebrate with mass as we usually try to do, with gratitude and in thanksgiving. It was the first day of the Lunar New Year as well so after mass we spent the day celebrating with family, then we went home for a much needed siesta, followed by a walk, then dinner. There was even time to play with the grandkids before just chilling before the telly like an old married couple.
There is such grace in the daily rituals of life such as exercising together (although we don’t do that often enough), eating together as a family, sharing life and laughter. It is little pleasures that come from the simple things, and not the grand gestures, that mark the marriage with quiet joy, pleasures often overlooked and taken for granted if we do not stop to acknowledge them and offer them up with thanksgiving back to the Father who first bestowed them.
When I really look at P, I see who he is and why I fell in love with him, and I continue to love him just a little bit more for everything that he is, the total package. Sure, there are things about him that rub me the wrong way and irritate me, as I am sure I do him. However, God has given us the wisdom and charity to know what we should hold on to and what to discard in order that we can build a marriage that is founded on mutual respect, love and honour. We are far from perfect as individuals but because we decide to live for Christ and all that He stands for, we are able to forgo our egos, our need to be right, and even the instances when we are actually right and the other is wrong.
So what have the 50 months of marriage stood for? It has been a time of getting to know each other better, of deeper bonding, of learning to love the other in a multitude of ways that were new and challenging in the initial stages, but ultimately proved enriching, delightful even, in repetition. It has been a time of testing and endurance, of great stretching, which has led to growth and a fruiting unimagined. I may not have enjoyed every moment, but I would not exchange a single milligram of pain for it is only in the bitter that sweetness is truly appreciated and savoured fully.
The number 50 in the Bible signifies the coming of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks also known as the Feast of Firstfruits. P and I lay at the Lord’s feet the firststfruits of our marriage, all the choice blessings of marriage we have experienced. In thanksgiving, we honour Him for bringing us together in holy matrimony, and for journeying with us all these months. His Spirit is certainly what drives us to always desire and seek the good of the other even at great personal sacrifice.
May we continue to walk in His ways and see His face when we chance upon or gaze fondly at the other’s visage.
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