Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BLIND (06/03/21)
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TITLE: Until Death Do Us Part | Previous Challenge Entry
By Stephen Kimball
06/10/21 -
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“Cat got your tongue?”, he teased.
I suddenly felt flush and knew that my cheeks were giving my embarrassment away with a rosy blush. The nerve, I thought.
We all played together for a good while, climbing the big tree in Jennie’s back yard. I was mostly quiet, but seemingly the object of Jennie’s boyfriend’s interest. If it wasn’t so weird, I would swear he was flirting with me. Must have taken my shyness as a challenge. Because when Jennie got called inside, this boy I just met took it upon himself to accompany me home.
Since I wasn’t doing much talking, he told me all about himself. I could tell right away he was a rebel son. His priorities seemed to be girls and fishing, though not necessarily in that order. He was two years older than I, and the most independent and confident thirteen-year-old I knew.
That day turned into a long weekend. I was looking forward to seeing my new friend at school, although I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Monday morning came around as usual, except on this day, when I walked out my front door for my walk to school, guess who was waiting for me at the end of my driveway, ready to give me a personal escort on his handlebars?
From that moment on, we were together, like peanut butter and jelly. Jennie was out and her X- boyfriend was my new best friend and future husband.
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“For richer and for poorer, in good times and bad, through sickness and health, until death do us part.”
I’ve spent most of my life working that out. The day those words came from these lips, I had no idea what they meant; what I was in store for. How could I at seventeen years old? But even then, I had no doubt that I was pledging my “blind“ devotion – permanently. There would be no “out clause”. No “throwing in the towel”, as they say, if things got tough.
Now, almost seven decades later, we know the depth of those vows. Life can seem sweet and easy in the good, healthy and rich times, but true devotion only really manifests during the difficulties of life. True devotion gives when the object of your affection has no ability to give back. When you are willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the other person with no ulterior motive. True devotion is selfless and profound, and few find it.
Here’s the secret: I understand that I am loved by God with exactly that kind of perfect and profound love. I have nothing to offer my creator except my praise and my gratitude and my life in return. Yet he loves me even when I withhold those things. His patience is unending. He leaves the ninety-nine and comes after me when I stray. He knows I belong to him regardless of the circumstances, and it is only through his power and his spirit that I am able to love as he loves. Just as Jesus gave his life for me in selfless devotion, I too can be faithful to the bitter end to the one who has been by my side all this time.
God loves you in the same way. Take it in, accept it, live it, and then give it away.
*Written, with great love and appreciation, in honor of my mother and father who have set a lifelong example for me to follow.
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