Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Proverbs 31:10 (04/13/23)
-
TITLE: Witness To Kisses | Previous Challenge Entry
By Linda Lawrence
04/17/23 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
The wedding and reception weren’t “perfect", but that was of no concern to her. Her dreams were of the marriage, not the wedding. Being a wife of noble character to the love of her life was her goal—not being queen for the day.
The early years of marriage were filled with the joy of love. She rose each morning, eager to prepare his breakfast, to walk him to the car, to kiss him good-by before he drove off to work, to fill her day with preparations for his return, to welcome him home with a kiss and sweet scents of love to fill his heart and his stomach.
Then one year, one day—she didn’t.
She asked herself if he would notice? Was she the only one eager to be together again at the end of each day?
He did notice his breakfast needed hurrying up. He ate and went to work. No kiss. He came home. No kiss. He took a nap. No kiss. Did he notice? This new pattern became the norm.
Her heart ached with longing to love and be loved. What did his heart crave? Finally, she asked him.
“I don’t know” was the most he had to say. He didn’t know how to give her the love she wanted or to recognize the preciousness of the love she had offered. The jewel was taken for granted.
He encouraged her to look elsewhere for her own happiness and satisfactions—and let him be satisfied. He had his comfortable home and his work. He was most content when sleeping.
This broke her heart. She would only be satisfied with him wanting her as much as she wanted him.
Their Lord (and yes, they both loved the Lord in their own half-hearted way) wanted them to each love Him like He loved them. To want for themselves what He wanted for them.
Their “wants” took each of them down lonely, dark, unfaithful paths. Joy was a thing of the past. The substitute “satisfactions” weighed them down, pulled them down. Down . . . down . . . down.
Chronic illness, counselors, alcohol, anti-depressants, sleep, confrontations, building a house—nothing stopped the downward spiral.
She was unable to stop loving her man, but her craving to be loved exposed the flaws in her once noble character.
She felt it hypocritical to attend church, but he sometimes attended on his own. He knew his not-so-secret sins and his sleep-walking life had broken his wife’s heart, but his own heart felt dead and hopeless also.
How do I know? We’ve been friends for over fifty years. My heart pounded when I ask the hard questions, but I asked, I listened. And I saw.
I wasn’t there to see this, but one glorious day, while sitting in church, during the sermon Jesus spoke to him and wondrously removed this husband’s “I don’t know” excuse. He can’t explain it but he knows that in that moment God transformed his heart. Was this a resurrection moment? Being made alive in Christ?
No one sitting around him seemed to notice something hallowed was happening in his heart, but he was now awake, alive. His eyes and heart had been opened.
He went home eager to kiss his jewel of a wife.
To her, it was a kiss of life. The dormant love, the burning desire to be a wife of noble character was restored by the breath of God and the kiss of the man of her dreams.
Forgiveness reversed the downward spiral and love took wing. That was ten years ago. Joy or jealousy is stirred up in the heart of anyone watching these two together today.
To watch the now, knowing the then, is to be in awe of God’s power to restore and refine love. These dear friends of mine kiss on waking, bringing each other coffee, seeking each other out through the day. A kiss, a kiss, a kiss. There’s a lilt in her step, and a twinkle in his eye. What was lost has been found and there is great rejoicing—on earth, as in heaven.
To me, the observing friend, their tender affectionate love is a foretaste of what to anticipate in heaven—Jesus enjoying His refined jewel of a Bride.
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Proverbs 31:10 (NIV)
Non-fiction
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Wow!!! Thank you for this splendid entry. The content, the quality, the flow, the diction, the style... are all superb. Its a good candidate, in my opinion, for EC. Well-done!