I want to say Happy Anniversary to My wonderful wife, Deanna.  Today we celebrate 9 years of marriage.  The Lord has blessed me with such a godly, beautiful, wonderful wife.  She is truly a helpmeet to me.   She is my best friend and lifelong partner.  The first 9 years have been wonderful and I look forward to the next 30+ years.  We are not perfect and neither has been our marriage.  However, if we truly understand the meaning of love as portrayed in 1 Corinthians 13.  We will understand that love isn't just a sensation or a chill down our spine.  It's not the kind of love portrayed in Hollywood or on TV.  It is an everlasting love.  The love mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 is not a romantic love.  The Bible never speaks of a romantic love as we perceive the word Love.  The love that the Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 5:25 and so many other places in the scriptures is the ultimate act of self-sacrifice.  Love is an action and specifically an action of self-sacrifice.  This is exactly what God means when he says,  "For God so loved the world that he gave..."  God almighty sacrificed His Son, Himself, because he loved you and I.  Our Lord showed us the ultimate action of self-sacrifice....true love.

If we as married couples can grasp this type of Love, not the sensational, romantic, sexual type Love that we perceive, that Hollywood portrays, but the type of Love that Christ displays and talks about in His word, we would be able to live our married lives (and our lives) to the fullest, how God designed it.  Does that mean we would live problem and argument free?  Of course not, we are sinners, individuals, and full of fault.  However, what it does mean is that when we do have that occasional argument, when we do have those aggravating problems that arise, when we do have that not so often day where we just don't feel like we love our spouse as much as the day before, we will remember and understand that love isn't a feeling but the ultimate action of self-sacrifice.  If we want a successful marriage that will last until "death do us part" then each person in the marriage union must portray this action of self-sacrifice: LOVE! 

Thank you Deanna for Loving me (the action of self-sacrifice) and being such a wonderful wife.  I love you and look forward to growing old together.  Happy Anniversary!