When I was a much younger man, I used to sit down and bang on the piano and write tunes as I went along. I would write about my faith, my life and whoever I was madly in love with at the time. I may not have written the songs the whole world sings, but I sang them constantly and there is many a day still when one of my moldy oldie melodies will spring up in the never ending playing jukebox in my brain, and there I am belting it out all over again.
One such ditty seems oh so appropriate today.
I know we live in a day where the divorce rate is rising at a faster pace than global warming. Sadly, it is even higher among churchgoers than those who don’t even claim to own any personal faith.
I am not saying that there are very specific instances where separation is truly a needed and necessary option, but I do think that too many couples quit stoking a fire that could be reignited again.
When I hear things like, “We just fell out of love,” or “We got bored with each other,” or “I met someone else who just happens to be 25 years younger than you,” I do get a little cynical that every effort was made to save a ship that didn’t have to sink.
Before I get to my own writings, I would like to borrow wise words from a B.J. Thomas record that I didn’t pen where the lyrics ask, “Whatever happened to old fashioned love, the kind that would see you through, the kind of love that my Mama and Daddy knew?”
And then there was the hit single by Michael Martin Murphy that quite poetically posed, “And I see love hungry people, trying their best to survive, when right there in their hand is a dying romance and they’re not even trying to keep it alive. So, what’s the glory in living? Doesn’t anybody ever stay together anymore?
And if love never lasts forever tell me what’s forever for?”
This week my wife Terri and I will be marking our 27th wedding anniversary. I am not bragging by any means. Through the years that have gone by, we have experienced more than our fair share of laughter and tons of tears.
We were very young when we got hitched back in December of 1982 and neither of us had any idea of what we were getting into when we recited our vows before the Lord and our family and friends in that little church in Avon, Pa.
We have seen five of our nine children go to heaven before we ever wanted them to. And while there are many wonderful benefits of being in the ministry full time, there is quite a wear and tear on your heart when people that you pour your life into choose to be cruel and hurtful in return.
Still even when our love flickered and faltered a bit, our commitment to one another has kept us hanging on and hanging in and I can honestly say I couldn’t imagine my life without Terri by my side. Love can survive a multitude of mistakes and for that truth I am grateful to my bride for not giving up on me even when I probably would have.
So if I may be my overly mushy romanticized self, I would like to share with you all a song I wrote at 22 that I still believe as I am about to embark on turning 50. I dedicate it to Theresa Ann Smith Sheptock, my wife, my confidant, my partner and my best friend. I could not do this thing called life without you and God surely knows that!. Happy Anniversary!
I’ll Love You with My Life…
I’ll love you with my life not just with what I say…
I’ll take each opportunity to show you everyday…
I’ll love you with my life not just with songs I sing…
Cause if I don’t give my all to you- my words won’t mean a thing…
I could hold your hand and walk with you each night…
But will I still be there- when there’s no moonlight?
I need to be your servant in all God says to do…
Cause it’s only in my actions will you see I Love You…
I could sing you love songs and quote the fancy lines…
But if you don’t see Jesus, it’s just a waste of time…
So dear Lord supply in me, just what I need to give…
You are the perfect love song, the only way to live…
I just wanted you to know that I pray our love will grow…
And that God will make a way, for me to live each word I say…”
Write Pastor Rudy pastorrudytlc@comcast.net
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