After three trips down this long stretch of highway from Texas to California, I have at last come to the conclusion that this marriage of ours is forever.
Mr. Fantastic and I have driven this road exactly three times together.
Our first trip was to move me from California to Austin when we were engaged and giddy with all of life and our future together. An ice storm was predicted and we stopped for the night in a no-name hotel in the middle of a dark stretch of road. We confused the manager by asking for two rooms for two people, both of which he assured us could sleep up to four. We were determined to walk through our engagement in purity. Doors were required, no matter how odd it seemed.
The second trip was when Boy 1 was seven months old. Driving straight through, we tested his ability to endure a carseat and a view of the rear window for twenty-six hours straight. We didn’t realize at the time that I was also three months pregnant with our second son. It was a fairly miserable experience all around. That trip marked the beginning of my undoing and God’s great doing in our lives, as we learned new levels of strength in our Lord.
And now this third trip. Four big kids in tow, a box full of candy, books on CD, Legos, baby dolls, cans of Coke, and a lightness that is difficult to describe are the hallmarks of the endless road drawing us onward this time. I glance over at the man I married, dwelling on all we have been through together. And it strikes my heart like a thunderbolt:
This love is going to last my whole life, and beyond.
How does a road trip bring such a revelation? Is it that there is no distraction as your wheels roll over the miles, and at last you can hear the sweet truths of God’s own heart?
My soul has heard music on this trip, sweet melodies of enduring love. God’s heart is pouring forth, and I am filling up to overflowing.
Love like this is costly. It costs you your comfort, your selfishness, your determination to have everything just as you like it. It requires forgiveness, mercy, and a steadfastness to do what is right, even when it seems unfair. Enduring love asks that you bear what is less than ideal so that you can hold what is more than common: joy, peace, and acceptance in the presence of a King.
Many times I have wanted to be done. I have longed for a finish line, a break, a release from the responsibility to persevere on down this road.
Today, though, as happy children read books and draw pictures behind me, and a good man- the best man- sits beside me, willing to take life on the chin for the good of our family, I feel only gratitude for the long road ahead.
Forever love endures all things, and sweetens as the miles roll along behind us. I set my heart to the tune of the heavenly music and keep driving.
