Doreen and I are celebrating our 25^th anniversary today. We both can hardly believe how fast the time has gone and how much we have to celebrate together. Marriage truly is one of God’s greatest of blessings. One of the early Jewish myths show the creation of Adam as one being with two fronts, one male and one female and eventually God separates them into two people. [Obviously not the Genesis version about ribs.] I rather like that old myth because, as most myths, it contains a truth. Together we seem more complete than single. That does not mean that everyone is meant to be married or that they have to be of different genders; God’s options always seems wider than our ability to understand them.

I also agree with that John Gray’s book Women are from Venus and men are from Mars. There are great gender differences which creates lots of conflict but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. There is more balance is our lives when we have to interact with each other in marriage or in any relationships we have. I am a better person than I would have been without my 25 years with Doreen, there is no doubt, and I hope the same is true for her.

In our case there was an extra blessing for me is that I got a readymade family. Two people never just marry each other, we marry each other’s families. And so I was blessed in one day with 3 grown children and 6 grandchildren with a 7^th soon to follow. And now the family has grown and more relationships to enjoy. More family to loved and be loved by. A great great blessing that I think about constantly. It’s a big deal the joining of families and again they come with stresses and conflict, but the positives again are so much greater than the negatives. I’m sure that Doreen’s part of the family think I’m more from Neptune than either Mars or Venus from time to time. Again, I believe we all are the better for it and for that I give God thanks.

Living the life of a pastor brings additional problems in family life as our weeks are different they most other people, we work when others play and play when others work with regularity. Therefore, the weekends, when extended families commonly gather, are often minimized or lost for pastors. I think of all the many important family events I have missed with my family because of this. But again, my life as a pastor was a great blessing for which I give God thanks. And now I treasure all the more the opportunities retirement gives to take part in more of these.

Marriage is a great blessing and I give God thanks for Doreen’s and my 25 years together and prayer that God grants us many more so we can continue relationship with each other and our families and friends.

Thank you God, thank you family, thank you friends.

P.S. The picture at the top is from our honeymoon which was spent going to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that year. Not your typical honeymoon, but then, what'd you expect.