Tues., Apr. 10, 2018

James 4:9 – Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair.

“Wake me when it is July,” came the muffled noise from under the pile of blankets.

We live in Wisconsin. Hubby Rick works nights. When he crawled into bed early Monday morning, it was still dark. He also announced that it was snowing outside.

Later, I was leaving for work. I usually make sure I have everything I need outside of our bedroom before I go to bed. This way, I can quietly exit in the morning and not wake Rick up. This morning, I forgot my watch. While grabbing it, Rick woke up. He took one look out the window, saw more snow flurries, groaned, flung the blankets over his head and made his pronouncement of hibernation.

Rick and I are oil and water. Night and day. We march to different drums. When God brought us together, it was not because we would be two peas in the same pod. No, we are different peas in separate pods on completely different plants.

This makes for rarely a boring marriage.

Early in our marriage, Rick would sometimes say, “Can you try to think the way I do?” Quite honestly, I cannot. Years of experience have allowed me to maybe be a little better guesser. More days than not, I continue to be surprised by how he thinks, what he says and his responses to the journey of life.

This offers lots of opportunities for laughter in our marriage. I am the serious, straight-laced member of our marriage. Rick is the cut-up. The “you never know what is going to come out of his mouth,” person. The “I can’t believe you just said that aloud … in front of other people” member.

Most of the time, his off-the-cuff one-liners bring some levity to my life. There are times his words are perhaps a bit annoying or embarrassing. Mostly, I am over this by now.

His line about wanting to stay under the covers until July is classic Rick. He does not like cold weather. Our electric blanket is still on the bed and will be for a few more weeks. He still wears long underwear … every day. When he leaves for work, he has a menagerie of t-shirts layered under his work shirt for warmth.

There are times when his comments may be slightly not what I would prefer him to say, especially in front of the grandkids. But mostly, they make me laugh.

And for this, I am grateful.

P.S. – When I got home from work tonight, his car was gone. Somehow, he found his way out of the bedroom and off to work.

Holy God – thank you for bringing into my life someone who brings me so much laughter. Thank you for helping me love someone who is truly an opposite to my personality. Thank you for your providence in knowing what I need long before I knew myself. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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