The Love Story of Calvin & Michele

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Ephesians 4:32

(KJV)

Graphic Design by Zach Smith

"The Love Story of Calvin & Michele"

"About thirty years ago, a handsome young man in a tux stood before me and recited loving words of commitment that began like this:

“Michele, joining my life with yours in the covenant of marriage . . .”

And so our love story began with strong promises about loving and listening, respecting and revering.  By God’s grace the covenant is still in effect, and after all these years, the more I learn about myself and my all-too-obvious weaknesses and failures, the more a love based on strong promises sounds really good to me.

God’s love is like that, too – based on strong promises that have been recorded in His Word.

We had our first fight in the grocery store just a bit over a week after the wedding. I am a list-shopper, and he is a browser. Stopping for nothing, I steer the shopping cart around corners on two wheels, while he lingers over a cheese display, comparing relative merits and flavors at long leisure.

I was raised in a home with a bare refrigerator and minimal resources for kitchen creativity. He came from a fully stocked spice cupboard and a philosophy of abundance and celebration around food.  To him, our shopping cart looked like a barren waste land of deprivation, while I was becoming convinced that from now on we would be spending 75% of our net worth on food.

By some miracle of grace, we weathered that difference and after nearly thirty years of marriage, we just like each other a whole lot.

I smile when I say that my good husband and I are “middle-aged.”  I suppose if we live to be 120, we are middle-aged, but the reality is that we are past the mid-point on many levels, and this is most glaringly obvious in our life together as parents.  Parenting feels different in these days when everyone is taller than I am.  It was so much easier when I could put all the “forbidden things” (cookies, snack food, breakables) on top of the refrigerator.  Now I find myself asking my kids for help with top-shelf-reaches.

Here’s a challenging theory from Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas:  “Behind virtually every case of marital dissatisfaction lies un-repented sin.”  Sit with that one for a while and let it come to mind the next time you mutter a complaint against your spouse.

Thirty years of marriage have flown by.  In many ways, my husband and I are not the same people who walked down the aisle in that big, beautiful church with pipe organ music and the aroma of gardenias in the air.  Everything in our lives has changed — except one thing.

We are still working at our love."

Bio:  Michele Morin is a teacher, reader, writer, and gardener who does life with her family on a country hill in Maine. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for nearly 30 years, and together they have four sons, two daughters-in-love, and three adorable grandchildren. Michele is active in educational ministries with her local church and delights in sitting at a table surrounded by women with open Bibles. Connect by following her blog at Living Our Days, or via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Calvin and Michele, thank you SO much for blessing us with your amazing love story!  It was so wonderful to read of how God has blessed you through the years and to see your smiling faces in the photos!  May the Lord grant you both long lives and abundant health as you continue to do life together!

In case you missed them, you can read previous Love Story Posts by clicking these links:
The Love Story of David & Wanda
The Love Story of Michael & Karen
The Love Story of Kevin & Cheryl
The Love Story of Tom & Mary
The Love Story of Michael & Jordan
The Love Story of Ed & Sherry
The Love Story of Ed & Janet
The Love Story of Tim & Linda