By Katy Mariotti

Fifty-Six Years

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 English Standard Version

My amazing parents have just celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary. 56 years! As I read scripture and think about their marriage, I wonder what I can emulate in my own marriage. Ecclesiastes gives us a great example of how being together helps us. We can toil together, we can lift one another up, and keep each other warm.

My parents have had 56 years of doing just this. They’ve labored together making many moves over the years as my dad was in the Air Force.They also raised five kids to be educated, happy, loving adults. And as married couples understand, they have worked together in the everyday toil of life, whether that be housekeeping, paying bills, grocery shopping, or any other of the mundane tasks we all complete. They have lifted one another up in illness and sadness, and supported each other in dreams of travel and fun activities together.  And they have kept each other warm in the ways they are thoughtful to one another every day, each doing little things not just to help one another, but to bring sunshine to each other’s day as well.

Most of all, my parents have put God first in their marriage. Their marriage is centered in faith, prayer, and worship, and they made sure that was the center in raising their kids as well.

I love my parents so much and I hope to follow their example. Fifty-six years is such a source of pride and an enormous blessing! We can follow that example not just in marriages but in all of our relationships to others. God has gifted us with our family and friends and we should never take that amazing gift for granted!

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado