Happy weekend, everyone! Today I’m simply building my post around a couple of photographs and a great scripture.

Yesterday Rebekah and I drove to Sarasota to celebrate my mum and dad’s sixty-first wedding anniversary. They didn’t get another letter from The Queen (to be fair, I don’t think my folks sent her one this year either), but they did take us out for dinner and it was certainly “the royal treatment.”

I asked them a great question, and it kept the conversation going for quite some time. “Last week, at Roy Crenshaw’s memorial service,” I said, “one of his daughters shared a card her mother had written on their 40th anniversary. In it Virginia listed 40 reasons she was glad she’d married Roy. Apparently it was her tradition, every year, and she said it actually got easier to write the longer they were married.

“So I’m asking you the same question, both of you. Mum, what’s one reason you’re glad you married Dad? And Dad, share one reason you’re glad you married Mum.”

The good thing was neither of them stopped at just the one. Like I said, the conversation lasted a long time. It reminds me of the verse I wrote in their card. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10). “Thanks for always being a great example of this verse,” I wrote. And they have.

When we left, I took this photograph outside their home. Looking at it makes me so thankful that I still have both my parents around. If you asked them their secret, I’m sure they’d say the answer could be found in that lesson from Romans. In fact, they’d probably suggest reading the entire chapter. Here are just a few more verses; I think they’re on to something.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13)

I was going to write more, but I think I’ll leave that for tomorrow. For now I want you to have this image in your mind, the image of two people who have built a life around “clinging to what is good.” Let me break this down:

• Love must be sincere.
• Hate evil; cling to what is good.
• Be devoted to one another in love.
• Honor one another above yourselves.
• Keep the passion alive.
• Serve the Lord.
• Be joyful in hope, patient in trouble, faithful in prayer.
• Share with those in need.
• Practice hospitality.

In other words, be more like my mum and dad – DEREK