he asked

Forty years ago this past Sunday, he asked me a question and I answered yes, and then he put a shiny diamond on my finger. It may be a bit worn now, and has had a few repair jobs, but to me it's as beautiful today as it was that day we stood on a mountain top overlooking the Hudson River. Two years before, on that date, he had asked me out on a first date. I wasn't so sure about this tall young basketball player, but I agreed to his invitation. So began a lifetime together. And it's probably good I didn't have a bird's eye view of where all life would take us.

Sunday we sat at a different place in church than we usually do and had a new view of our large congregation. As I watched new mothers carrying their babies into church, or young families staking out a pew, or teenagers gathered in a corner before service, or a grandma showing off her granddaughter, I saw stages of our life march before us.
I'm not sure the Gardener was thinking the same, but I looked up at him and grabbed his hand. His eyes looked misty. Serving God, others, and the church has been our life together, and has taken us to many places and through many situations, both good and not so good. We are so much a part of each other and a part of our work together, I can't imagine any other life. I think we both were feeling that this Sunday as we looked out over a congregation we love.

Sure as a young woman of 20 I had no idea what saying yes to this young man (I think he was on one knee) would mean for my life,  but I affirmed again on this 40th "yes" anniversary, that I would have it no other way. God's grace has been nothing but abundant in our lives. I am thankful today.