How is it that you can be married for almost 16 years, and STILL be getting to know each other ? Could it have anything to do with the fact that it takes a good bit of time to know YOURSELF ? How about the almost impossible skill of giving another person your whole heart ? Yeah, thats it.  Loving your spouse in a way that brings out the best in them…the fullness of them, and who they were created to be, is a learned skill, and first you have to lay down your whole heart.

The butcher and I are figuring this out. It may take the rest of our lives, but that is ok….we have time. I want his WHOLE heart, he thinks he gives it…he wants my WHOLE heart, and I (up until this past week) was CONVINCED that I was giving it.  WRONG. If that were true, would we still be having the same fight after 16 years ? There is so much more to give. As we open up our hearts, each new layer reveals a new thing. A new wound, or a new strength…maybe some hardened scar tissue…whatever, it is more to learn. It is another opportunity to love and be loved in a whole hearted kind of way.  Love that lasts a lifetime, is going to take a lifetime…. and then some to figure out.