Sorry this blog is a couple of days late. Now that I am working in DC, my already busy life has gotten even busier. This weekend Yannette and I celebrated ten years of marriage. She deserved my undivided attention as we talked, prayed and cried through memories of our lives together. So I am just now getting the chance to sit and write.
Some of our closest friends came to our house last night to help us celebrate our anniversary. One of our friends gave a toast and said that Yannette and I are an inspiration to her for what a marriage should be. Now I don’t say that to brag, I tell you because it got me to thinking on the plane ride back to DC what my marital legacy will be? What do my two daughters see when they look at our marriage? Are we setting a good example for our children to follow? When they look at their dad do they see the kind of man that they one day hope to marry?
If you are married, have you ever thought about what your marital legacy will be? If you are not married, what kind of legacy did your parents leave for you? Yannette and I both come from a long line of broken marriages and unkept promises. So we have not been given a good foundation on which to build. In spite of that fact, we are committed to being first generational legacy builders. My prayer is that the legacy we pass on will be marked by three main things.
1. Friendship. Yannette is my best freind. We laugh, love, cry and fight together. We share our hearts, dreams, hopes and fears. We know the best and worst of each other and at the end of the day we both wouldn’t want to be with anyone else in the world. We really don’t understand those folks who don’t like to be around their spouses, because we truly enjoy each others company. I pray that is what our girls see.
2. Faithfulness. I often joke with Yannette because she has what I call an “overwhelming sense of fairness.” She totally believes in an eye for an eye, so you better watch out if you cross her! But seriously, she is the most faithful person I know. The number one thing that she expects from those closest to her is loyalty. It is my hearts desire to leave a legacy of marital faitfulness.
3. Fidelity. This probably should have been number one on the list, because if you don’t have trust, you can’t make a marriage work. Yannette has my entire heart. I can remember the day we met, I started out attracted to her, then she won my affection and now she has all of me. While I did not have the honor of presenting myself pure physically to her, I can tell you that she is the first and only woman to have all of me. I pray that my girls one day will say to their husbands you are the only man to have all of me, mentally, physically and emotionally.
These are the building blocks that I hope will mark our marriage and will be passed on to my girls. I pray these same values will be part of the mark of your marriage as well.