“This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:17
One of the best ways to sustain true love between you and your mate is to
build a bridge of loving memories. I am reminded of a husband named Jim who was
tragically killed in an accident while driving home from work. It was his wife
Carol’s fiftieth birthday. Rescue teams found two plane tickets to Hawaii in his
pocket; he had planned to surprise Carol with them.
Months later, Carol was asked how she was coping. She answered that on their
wedding day, she and Jim had promised to say “I love you” before noon each day
of their marriage. Over the years it had become a fun—and often
difficult—challenge. She recalled running down the driveway saying “I love you,”
even though she was angry at Jim. On other occasions she drove to his office to
drop a note in his car before the noon deadline. The effort it took to keep that
promise led to many positive memories of their years together.
The morning Jim died, he left a birthday card in the kitchen, then slipped
out to the car. Carol heard the engine starting and raced outside. She banged on
the car window until he rolled it down, then yelled over the roar of the engine,
“Here on my fiftieth birthday, Mr. James E. Garret, I, Carol Garret, want to go
on record as saying ‘I love you!’”
“That’s how I’ve survived,” Carol said later. “Knowing that the last words I
said to Jim were I love you!”
We can build bridges across the span of our lives in many ways— with cards
and flowers, through special shared moments, or, like Jim and Carol, with a
simple “I love you” expressed each day. Cherished memories established over the
course of your marriage will give you and your mate the foundation for a genuine
love that endures a lifetime.
Shirley M. Dobson
From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James
& Shirley Dobson
Copyright © 2000 by James Dobson, Inc. All rights
reserved.
Illustration by Debbi Smoot from Moments for Each other by Robert Strand
(Green Forest, Ariz.: New Leaf Press, 1993). Reprinted in More Stories for the
Heart, comp. Alice Gray (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Publishers, Inc.
1997).
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