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The Faulk Four had the opportunity a few weeks ago to get to know a man in our church a little better. Since I’ve already shared with his wife what he said, I thought it would be okay if I shared it here as well, as it has been rattling around my mind for weeks now, challenging me and convicting me daily, hourly, minute by minute.

He was telling us how he has been married for fifty-two years to his lovely bride. And, he confessed, he wasn’t always smart about how to be a good husband when he was younger, but, he assured us, she had always been a wonderful wife. He told us about the vacations they’ve gone on recently, the time they spend together, and how much he enjoys her company, just as he did when they first married. All these seasons later, here where God has placed them in our community and our church, he put it very simply — “She’s really happy here. And I’m happy wherever she is.”

Even as we listened to him and I tried to wrestle my children into acting like ladies instead of “hollering monkeys” (as Emma would say), I felt serious conviction because at that particular moment?  I wasn’t rejoicing in Wes and the gift of being able to enjoy him and be with him. In the stresses of daily life with small children and job demands and all that weighs on us, it gets so easy to get away from what it was once like — enjoying one another and being happy simply because we’re together.

I’ve been challenged as of late to take the opportunities as they come. To rush home from taking the girls to school so that I can go out to breakfast with him, spending that hour together talking before he goes on to the office. To gladly put aside the chores and the work that needs to get done during the day, making his calls home a priority and a pleasure. And to spend time at night, just catching back up together, after a long day, just like we have from the very beginning.

I must remember, always, to never forget what it means to honestly and completely enjoy my husband… and to be someone he can enjoy being with as well.