Brian and I celebrated our ten year anniversary last night, and we watched one of my all-time favorite movies: You've Got Mail. It's one of the very few movies I tell Brian he could buy me and I'd actually watch it over and over again. I'm not sure why I love it so much, other than I'm quite certain there was a time in my life where I wanted to be Meg Ryan's character. In the movie she is Kathleen Kelly, owner of The Shop Around the Corner, a quaint little New York children's book store. She wears turtlenecks and cardigans and knee length skirts that I tried to imitate in my wardrobe for years after the movie was made. She's quietly brilliant, magnificently charming, witty and so incredibly kind that Tom Hank's character--who tries desperately to hate her--can't help but fall madly in love with her. Ultimately, I'm sure what I was attracted to most was the love story that brings Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox to a dream ending.
As we watched the movie together last night, belly laughing over some of the ridiculous humor, I couldn't help but think about what their marriage might ultimately have looked like if we'd been blessed with a sequel. The movies never show that part, you know? The hard part, the real part, the beautiful part.
I've heard people say that their wedding day was the best part of their marriage--it's all downhill from there. I think how sad that must be. As Brian and I talked last night, we reminisced on the early days of our marriage. How different those days were. And how different we are now.
What most amazes me over the ten years of our journey together is the Lord's mercy poured out--how much closer we are to Him today than we were ten years ago. I've always heard people say it but now I know what they mean: I wish we knew then what we do now.
But Brian stopped me--It's all a part of the process, he said. And so it is. And I pray, looking forward, that in another ten years we might sit watching Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks--still belly laughing together--but reflecting on the Lord's hand in bringing us even more wisdom over the next ten.
I've had it on my heart recently to pray more intentionally for my husband, something I'm ashamed to say I haven't always done as well as I ought to. A dear friend recommended a wonderful book called Prayers of an Excellent Wife by Andrew Case. I recommend it to you, both young and older wives, alike. What better way to serve our husbands and our families than to get our knees to the floor and our hearts seeking the Lord for His will in our husbands' lives.
I do not thank the Lord enough for bringing Brian into my life. Our wedding day was beautiful--magical in all the ways a little girl dreams of it being. But I'm so thankful it was not the best day of our lives. I'm so thankful that each day we grow together by the grace God gives us for that day. And I'm thankful that because we both profess Him as Savior, there is no doubt that the best is yet to come.
