Love Never Fails

 “You are the answer to every prayer I've offered. You are a song, a dream, a whisper..."
Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

If you have ever watched or read The Notebook, you will know exactly what I am talking about when I say, my precious Mom and Dad are the couple in this love story. My brothers and I have had the awesome opportunity to grow up with parents who are selfless when it comes to one another, they love unconditionally, they encourage one another, their display of love is so incredible. It is one that keeps a person watching them in AWE, wondering if they too can have that kind of relationship. 

I never really get the opportunity to go off with both of them at the same time, but at Christmas I DID! I love being around them. They have that kind of love that every girl dreams of. Our time started with Dad helping Mom in and out of the truck, opening the store doors, carrying her bags, just the fact that he went to our Town Center in Jacksonville during Christmas was enough, but all of the extras....I am swooning even now. On July 26, 2016, they will celebrate 58 years of marriage and I truly believe they are more in love today than they were their 1st year of marriage. If we could take and bottle this love, this type of selflessness up, our divorce rate would be nonexistent! 

I believe the key to their love is the fact that they both love God with all of their hearts. They have lived out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS." Their love for one another doesn't stop with each other, but it overflows into my brothers and I, our spouses, the grandchildren and anyone else they come in contact with. 

Talk about being blessed! Why is it that God chose Jr. and Bea for my parents? I am not sure, but I am oh so glad that I call them "Mama and Daddy"! December 17th, 48 years ago, I was the surprise little girl that my Dad kept telling my Mom she was going to have! The doctor came out and told my dad he had a healthy baby boy and responded by, "NO, I am having a little girl"! My heart is overjoyed. I am the lucky girl that gets to call them my parents, my friends, my role models, my children's Nanny and Paw Paw! 

I John 3:18, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."