My wife and
I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year and we indulged
ourselves in a well-deserved three week holiday to Europe. In our own little
fantasy world of the “Love Boat” era of the 70’s and 80’s, we decided to bring
to realization that dream by signing up for a cruise in the Mediterranean. We
spent a week in Italy on our own and joined a 12-day cruise from Venice to
Istanbul and back. It was a thoroughly enjoyable holiday where we can withdraw
from the routines of life.
In our
staggered conversations throughout the trip in between celestial idle moments
to exploring the ancient ruins of Italy, Greece and Turkey, and the beauty of the
Greek islands, I thank my wife for standing by me for 25 years and we thank the
Lord together that we could travel like this as best of friends. We enjoyed
each other’s company more than ever as we enter into the early stage of our greying
years and empty nest. We are beginning to understand and appreciate our promise
to each other when we got married that we look forward to growing old together.
Having been a pastor for twenty years, I have witnessed the heartaches of many broken
or mediocre marriages. Marriage for some is like a prison cell, waiting for the
day to get out. To others, and I am not sure which is worse, they live in mediocre
co-existent, each living their own private life.
I often
wonder what happened to the youthful ideals of love conquers all and why some couples
even bothered to get married in the first place to get where they are today.
For that, we are thankful to God that while we have our fair share of rough
edges, the Lord has sustained and kept us together. There was a sense of déjà
vu in this trip because I thought I saw a similar image before, of us in such a
trip. I had a picture of what my marriage would be like, my family and my life.
In fact, it is better than what I saw then. In some sense the future is now. I
had a picture of what kind of husband I will be when I got married, the kind of
father when I had my first child and the kind of influence I can be to people
around me. It was then I started investing into the future. The future has now arrived.
It is a sobering thought as I remember the life verse God gave me in my 20’s. James
4:14 “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and
then vanishes.”
I was
reminded that life will be short and whatever we do, for most things, we have only
one shot at doing it right and the consequences, good or bad will have a
rippling effect for years to come, not only to us but for many others as well.
I remember crafting out in my early years what the future will be like, and
little by little over the years, I invested into that future. Financial
advisers have been extolling the power or miracle (some would say) of
compounding interest. It is learning to save with patience and discipline, a
bit at a time over a life-time, that we are assured of a good retirement. Life
is not that much different really. The daily discipline of spiritual growth,
relationship building and wealth creation is a responsibility of every person
and the disaster of the lack of it is evident in so many we see years later.
If
you are in your first half right now in your life, “maybe next year” is your
worst excuse. You have far more important things at stake than you think. This
is the power of vision. Life is like a mist. Don’t live to regret it later. My
future is now, and a little more to go! You will be saying this too, soon.
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