Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. – Ephesians 4:2-3

I remember the year – 2004 – when Rebekah and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We were so excited and we celebrated every way possible. Special dinners, special gifts, a new wedding band, and an iconic three-week odyssey to Scotland. We had such a great time we decided to honor every new five years with one more epic adventure. Consequently, Italy (2009), Italy again (2014), and Germany (2019).

We’re already thinking about 2024 and wondering how much of this beautiful Earth will be open for travel.

Grateful as Rebekah and I are for the 42 years we have enjoyed so far, my parents are pushing the marriage anniversary envelope in ways most people can hardly begin to imagine. Today they celebrate anniversary number 69.

I know I have shared this photograph before, but it remains a classic worth seeing again and again. It was taken outside of Rayleigh Baptist Church in Essex, May 24, 1952.

The lineup, left to right: Aunt Dorothea, Aunt Gladys, Aunt Margaret, Fred Maul, Connie Maul, Roger (best man), David and Grace (cousin Marion in front), Lily Kemp, aunt Mary, Aunt Olive and Uncle Norman, Arthur Kemp.

The scripture I chose to anchor this post describes how 69 works if you do it right! It would have been a great quote for – Sweet Wedding on a Hot Day – the post I wrote about my friends’ wedding this past weekend.

• Always be humble and gentle.
• Be patient with each other.
• Make allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.
• Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit.
• Bind yourselves together with peace.

In love, and because the kind of love described in the Ephesians passage makes so much joy possible! – DEREK

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