A Whole Pew Full of Love

Last week on Thursday night before Valentines Day, we attended a Native American Missionary Rally in Mitchell, SD. In front of us sat a couple we've learned to know and love who live about an hour from us and who work every Sunday with native children. They are not "missionaries" per se, as in under an organization, but they are missionaries, if you know what I mean. Lay people. He's a mechanic/rancher, and she's a homemaker, and they just look for opportunities to minister, to help, to reach out to the needy, to youth, and to children on the reservation.

 

I couldn't help noticing his arm around her (after all it was day before Valentine's Day) because they were sitting right in front of my eyeballs. But I also noticed that further down their same pew, both of their son-in-laws were sitting likewise, with their arms around their wives.

I wish I could have taken a picture of all that without anybody noticing or wondering what on earth was that crazy Anna Lucas doing. But since I didn't want to raise any proverbial eyebrows, and for everybody's obvious privacy, I just snitched this little photo. 

In a world full of chaos and chasms between relationships, it was an incredible witness to the grace of God in a family to see quiet little acts of love like this. Probably not one of them thought anything about what they were doing, or what it meant to a couple sitting right behind them all--seeing wives happy inside a husband's arm--a family of them, including a small child who was obviously loved yet also trained to be quiet and obedient in church.

  (And how important that is, because as I see it, neglecting to train one's children to obey and behave is one of the best ways to strain one's marital relationship. Even just one spouse can make all the difference in training young children. It can look automatic to people looking on in church, but we know from experience it requires round-the-clock effort to have a child obedient and happy in church.)

 Jonathan had gotten me a miniature rose early for Valentines Day a week earlier, but I forgot to water it till it was wilting, and that was the end of it. Jonathan bought me more flower! :) :)

Every day he and I choose to love each other, forgive each other if necessary, and care for each other. He works every day to provide for our family, besides working within our common goal of missionary work, and I do my best, even with the side effects of chemo, to make sure he is well taken care of. One morning last week, I made him a special breakfast of salmon omelet with jalapeno slices and salsa on top. Because I value my man and I want to "build my house," as Proverbs says, and my marriage, and not tear it down with my very own hands.

And it is such an encouragement to see other couples doing the same. Without even any words, this scene is an indelible witness to the world around us that love is still possible. Love still surmounts obstacles, and love never fails.