Thursday, October 05, 2006

Best Friends

Tony Morgan posted recently about serving in the Middle School ministry and asking the kids the question, "Who is my best friend?" His response? Not his pastor, not one of his colleagues, not a long-time friend, but his wife. I love that response.

Ever since I have known my wife Melissa, we have always enjoyed spending time together. Over the course of our marriage (nearing 20 years!!), we have purposely found employment together - from the grocery business, to our own business, to school business, and now (at times) church business. We came to the realization a long time ago that we really enjoy working together.

I have heard many others talk about how they would not enjoy (is hate too strong of a word here?) working with their spouse. The common thoughts? "How would we handle conflict? Could he/she handle 'taking orders' from me? What if I get the sudden urge to plant a big fat wet one on my spouse and someone walks in on us?" So many questions!

You know what I have figured out? None of that really matters when you really love someone. The old addage "where there's a will there's a way" is put into practice. While there may be times when I am too demanding or my approach is a bit too brash, a gentle reminder and honest communication quickly puts things back into perspective. One thing is for certain - we will always walk away knowing how much we love one another. Sometimes our love grows even more.

So I close this post reminded about how much God loves me, how much I have been blessed with a great wife, a great family, great friends, a great church, a great job and a great life. Even when life gets a bit challenging, my glass will remain eternally "half full!"

1 comment:

John said...

A very warm and lovely essay/tribute to Melissa....and to you, Michael. From one who has been close by since the beginning of this relationship...years and years ago....memories are now flooding my mind. Life rushes by, but with a "glass half full"...... Life is Great!!!!

Love you both!!