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Smile, My Darling

“A Love Letter to My Wife”

My Love,

God gave me a way out of sin. He did it with a smile, because if He wasn’t smiling it would have been done grudgingly, and God doesn’t work that way. He only works through love. He smiled on me.

I was in His heart all the time. He sent a part of Himself (His Son) to pay for my sins. His love for that Son is beyond compare and yet ... He loved me so much that He gave His Son to pay for my sins. He always gives me His best and does it with a smile. You see, I am special to Him.

When I was born, God gave me my first breath. I bonded with Him through my mother. I know because the look of love in her eyes could only be given by God. He smiled when He gave me the parents that He gave me. Although they weren’t perfect, they were perfect for me because of Him. And I thank the Lord Jesus for the two little sisters that He gave me because He smiled on me again. I have seen that same look in your eyes, my love, and it is a look of love that only the Father could give. Again He smiled.

He smiled when He gave me sight to see my way to Him. He smiled when He made me hear His words of love to me. I thank our Father for the love He shows me. He is always with me and gently holding my hand. I feel the soft, loving caress of His Holy Spirit, the soft whisper to my heart that says, “I love you,” then He smiles. I thank Him for the Son that He so freely gave for me. I thank Jesus for being so willing to give Himself for me. He saved me from a life of eternal torment. He is my Lord, and I am grateful for Him. Jesus is my dearest love. He is the only one who could save me from the clutches of satan. I always get His best and He smiles on me.

Now for the greatest blessing, next to His own Son, that He ever gave me. He so carefully picked you for me, my dear, my wife, and He smiled on me again. He picked the perfect woman for me. I thank Him for you, my love, and because of you I smile back at Him. I thank you, my precious wife, for the children that you gave me, through Him, that made me smile. He smiled on me again. I thank Him for bonding with my children just as He did with me. He did it through the mother that gave them life, He did it through you, my wife. You see, God knows how important you are to me. I love you. He smiled on me again.

Sweetheart, when God blessed me and brought us together as one the heavens shook and rumbled. God jumped for joy and shouted, "Hallelujah," and all the angels in heaven jumped and shouted with Him. My dear, you may have felt it because, you see, my heart jumped with them. Glory, Glory, the Father loves me, and He smiles.

I know that when I smile it is because of Jesus. He gave me you, and you are that burst of joy in my heart that makes me smile. You are that laugh that I can’t hold back when I hear you whisper I love you. You will be that joy in my heart forever.

Thank You for my wife, Lord Jesus. I smile back at You.

Sweetheart, I pray that I can some day be worthy of the love you have given me. You see I not only love you but am still very much in love with you. I feel the same every day as I did the day I asked you to be mine and you said yes. He smiled on me then.

Thank You, Father, for the girl you chose for me those many years ago. Thank you for the family that You gave me through this great woman. I love her, Lord. She is second only to You. I thank You, Jesus, for giving her the same opportunity that You gave me. You went to the cross for her also. You put us together and said “What God puts together, let no man put apart,” and then You smiled.

Now, my love, it is time that we both count our blessings and smile for God. You, because He made you who you are; and me, because He made you my wife. You raised my children, kept my home, and stayed with me through all that satan could throw at me. You brought Jesus into our home long before I turned to Him, and you are the reason that I did accept Him. Thank you for showing me the way to the greatest gift of all, Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

The most important Man of all loves you, honey. He looks down on you every minute of every day and smiles, and when He does, He also smiles on me. He always gives us His best; and when He gave you to me He truly gave me the best.

Thank you for the privilege of being Your Husband.

Earl

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Mary and her husband Jim had a dog, Lucky. Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit, they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy.

Inevitably, someone would forget and something would come up missing. Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of his favorite toys. Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.

It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease. She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders.

The night before she was going to the hospital, she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three- year old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through and through. "If I die, Lucky will be abandoned," Mary thought. "He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him." The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.

The surgery was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated, and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.

Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap. Lucky stood watching Mary, but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad, but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed. When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, wth every treasure Lucky owned

While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life. He had covered her with his love.

Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every night.

It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky? He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box, but Mary remains his greatest treasure.

Live everyday to the fullest! Remember it's a blessing from God.

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Author unknown.

If you know who wrote this, please tell us so that we can credit the author.

Confessions

I have a confession to make: I have committed one of the worse sins I can imagine. No, I didn’t kill anyone. Yes, I honor my father and mother. No, I didn’t (don’t) covet my neighbor’s wife or donkey. This is my great (meaning big) sin- I have only been going through the motions. If you listen to Matthew West then I need not be anymore specific, but for the rest of you, this is what I mean. Matthew West is an amazing singer/songwriter and one of my personal favorites. He has recently gone through a rough time, having to have surgery on his vocal cords. But, during the quiet time of his recovery he had plenty of time to contemplate life, and living, and serving God. This led to a song called “The Motions.” Matthew describes the song as being a “heart-cry” to God to allow a heart to be filled with love and life and a desire to serve God. Some of the lyrics are:

I don’t care if I break

At least I’d be feeling something…

I don’t want to go through the motions

I don’t want to go one more day

Without Your all consuming, passionate side of me

I don’t want to spend my whole life asking

‘What if I had given everything

Instead of going through the motions?’”

I know I am suffering from “The Motions” sickness. I know I am NOT the same person I was ten years ago. I have forgotten how love feels. It has been along time since I felt that butterflies-in-the-stomach-queasy-nervous-excited feeling that a person who is truly in love feels. I tell my family I love them, but I don’t feel it. I can remember when I used to and I realize now how much I miss the feeling. I also remember how I used to feel knowing God loves me, but I have somehow allowed myself not to feel it anymore. And yes, I can put my finger on exactly when this all started and why, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that I let it happen. Yes, it was a tough time in my life, but that doesn’t mean I had permission to shut off all my feelings. Still, I did.

There is good news, though. I recently took my daughter to see Matthew West and heard him sing “The Motions.” This confession is step one in my recovery process. I no longer want to just go through the motions. I have no idea how long recovery will take, or how many steps there will be, but with my family behind me and my God above me, I will once again be the man I should be.

The Bible tells us that once a man marries a woman and has relations with her, they are joined together as one. This relationship is a gift from God that's meant to be a lifetime commitment to our spouse. Oftentimes we read of ways to keep our love alive and our commitment to each other strong (see my article: Dating On A Budget). Many of those ideas are sound, but I'm a diehard advocate of the written word. I like poetry, love letters, dreams and visions, and any heartfelt words written to me

God plainly declared His love for us in the love letter He wrote, the Bible. As we read that work we can have no doubt of the depth and magnitude of God's love. He sticks with us through thick and thin. He doesn't look at our mistakes and think, "Wow, what a loser! I'm going next door to see if that one is better than what I got stuck with here." He continues with us. He knows that with time and love, we will change.

I believe the only thing that can touch a heart more deeply than the written word is music, but love songs are poetry written for someone. It doesn't matter whether the author names the recipient or not; we know his heart was reaching out to someone with his words. The above song by Matthew West is a love song to Jesus.

Read the letters on this page to encourage your hearts toward one another. If you have a letter you'd like to share, one you wrote, or one someone wrote to you, please send it to me at the email box below. Remember, this is a Christian family site. We reserve the right to edit the contents of the letters or poems submitted to fit our format.