Receive-Reflect-Respond: February 2015

How can it be that it has been over 50 years since I met, and then married, that pretty dark eyed brunette named Judy?

But it is true. Judy and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in Tucson, Arizona, in January with over 40 family and friends. It was so perfect to be together on that beautiful sunny weekend, starting with a party at the Posada Lodge and Casitas. The following are some comments I made at that event:

"We are truly blessed with your presence here today. You are our family, friends and part of our community of love and support at many times and places over our lifetimes, both before and after we got married. Some of you were there from the beginning of our lives (like my older brother Vern and Judy's sister, Romell. Others came into our lives over the years....

And so today we are here to celebrate with each other and with you. Thank you.. As an old beer commercial used to put it "It doesn't get any better than this".

Psalm 128 says it well.. ..

Enjoy the blessing; Revel in the Goodness!

You shall eat the fruit of your own labours, ...

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house, and your children shall be like olive-shoots around about your table.

This is the blessing in store for the one who fears the Lord..

We got an email from Mike Lockerby, a long time friend and for over 30 years the pastor of our home church, Holden Lutheran in Kenyon, MN. Mike celebrated, officiated at and spoke at hundreds of marriages, anniversaries and funerals in that rural community over those many years.. all occasions to celebrate and reflect on miles-stones and the passing of time.

He wrote: "I always said at such anniversaries through the years that a good marriage is not only a blessing to the couple and family, but to the entire community. We thank the Lord God for your marriage and life together; for your children, and their children.

The marital union you share is a most sacred and most serious (and joyous) union, established by God. ........Your common life, which you enjoyed all over the world, continues now in Butte! - and will be celebrated in Tucson!

May your marriage of 50 years continue to be a steadfast witness and expression of Christ's spousal love for the Church".

Fifty years, INDEED! Anyone who has come to a similar milestone of life, even to have lived this long, will tell you that it is hard to believe that the time has passed this fast.... For some reason I have a memory of Uncle Maynard saying something like that to Vern just after the birth of Mark, Vern and Donna's third child Mark, (who is here today, and is now in his 40s) ... "Enjoy him now, because you will not believe how fast he will grow up and how the years speed by".

Today, We have memories, pictures, and stories to share and tell - and the proof of a long life together right here in midst. But most importantly we have siblings we grew up with, and friends of many years who we first met in places like Minneapolis, Decorah, England, Ecuador and Peru, Canada, even Sheridan, Montana. And we have the wonderful blessing of having our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren. (except for 9 month old Colin who was sick, and his mother, Rachel)

In the beginning, we first met in the State Hospital in St Peter, Minnesota, (we were both working there, not patients - wow, was that a romantic setting!!)

There we started this relationship with a blank slate - and we had dreams. Not specific plans so much as dreams, possibilities - and the possibilities seemed not constrained by boundaries. Back in Kenyon the common way to ask a question for Minnesota Norwegians is to put "then" after the inquiry: Well, where are you going to live, then....? What kind of work are you going to do, then..? or dad would ask something like: " What would a job like that pay, then ..?

Well, as we moved from place to place and job to job, we had to ask those practical questions, but there were bigger and more important matters to consider, too. Is this the right thing for us to do now? (not always, is it the easy thing to do?) And that principle has been true for so many of you too ..., as we have witnessed your journeys and faithful service in so many places. (We had with us friends and family who had served long careers as social workers, pastors, teachers, missionaries, skilled craftsmen and nurses)

When we met we soon found that we shared a similar foundation, a base to build upon - to answer those questions about what to do with this life, and that foundation was our faith in Jesus Christ and our desire to discern and follow the will of God in our lives together.

We started talking with each other about that from the start, and have been at it ever since, even though, the limitations have become more apparent with age. Perhaps we don't have as many dreams now but we have many happy memories and, yes, there are many possibilities yet ahead. The journey is not over. All of you have been and are an important part of the backdrop of our lives.

Here's the guideline again - from Psalm 128: