Rosemary Simmons and I were joined together, officially, in a wedding ceremony at St. Stephen’s Church of God In Christ in San Diego on Saturday, June 13, 1981. As we celebrate our 35th anniversary tomorrow, I am in a most reflective mood and mode.
It is very easy to get married. It is very difficult to stay married. It is very easy to have a wedding. It is very difficult to have a marriage.
If we would take marriage seriously, there must be, on the part of husband and wife, a commitment to hard work! Let the Church say, “Amen.”
Belinda Luscombe has written the cover article for TIME magazine this week (June 13, 2016), titled “How To Stay Married (and Why).” Luscombe’s opening paragraph is humorous…and sobering.
“There’s a reason fairy tales always end in marriage. It’s because nobody wants to see what comes after. It’s too grim.
“Meeting the right person, working through comic misunderstandings and overcoming family disapproval to get to the altar – those are stories worth telling. Plodding on year after year with the same old soul? Yawnsville.”
I am a lifer, planning to stay married to Rosemary until one of us dies. Is that plain enough?
That is not because I am a great guy or because I want to prove something.
I simply want to keep the vows I made.
Glad the tomb is empty,
Pastor Farmer
June 13, 2016