Sharon and I had gone to a local restaurant to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
The pleasant young hostess showed us to a booth and handed us menus. I mentioned it was our anniversary lunch and asked if she would take a photo. She broke into a big smile and said, “Congratulations! How many years?” When I told her it was 51 she seemed impressed. “Wow! What’s your secret?” she inquired.
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Her question caught us off guard a bit.
I looked at Sharon, and she looked at me.
What was our secret?
Neither one of us could come up with an answer. I finally replied, “I guess our secret is, there is no secret.” She smiled and said she liked that answer, then snapped the picture and went about her duties.
She may have liked that answer, but I didn’t.
I found myself pondering the question over the next few days. What was the secret to staying together for 51 years? There’s nothing exceptional about our marriage — we’re just two average people who want to be together, and we try our best to be good to each other.
It did occur to me that there has been one constant to our half-century as a couple — in 1975 we were married in a church ceremony where we made a promise to God that we would love and take care of each other. Since then, church activities, ministries and fellowship have been a steady part of our lives. We have always been members of a Sunday School class, and both of us taught classes for several years.
Consistency
We’re certainly not model Christians, but I think the consistent exposure to godly environments has helped keep our relationship in a healthy place; it has kept us focused on how blessed we are to have each other, as opposed to expectations of what the other should do for us.
I wish I could go back to that restaurant and find the hostess. I would now answer her question by quoting Proverbs 31: “An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”
Here’s to 51 more years!
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ken Lass is a retired Birmingham television news and sports anchor and an award-winning columnist for numerous publications and websites.
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