I remember the halcyon days of honeymoon, when joy was like the warm September sun, everywhere, and you didn’t have to go hunting for it.
Through child-rearing, and cancer, and brain infections, and long periods of separation, you have to look harder to find the shared joy.
But it is still there, in the moments when you sneak up on your spouse and find him loving on one of the kids, unbidden. Teaching them to find joy in the simple things.
It’s there when you catch him caring deeply for the weak little girl, find him celebrating her on her birthday, singling her out for a quiet moment alone.
He prays, and you listen, and through the mess and the busyness, and the chaos where you desire order, it rings through loud and clear: journeying together is not just about the happy moments. And there is joy in all those moments, waiting to be found, like hidden treasure.
Long ago, you thought love meant “happily ever after”. But you learn, slowly, as he keeps loving through the hardest of seasons, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, forsaking all others…love is sacrifice, abiding, loving you when you are unlovable.
By: Genevieve Thul
