Next week my wife and I will celebrate our 43^rd wedding anniversary. We generally do not have a big celebration on our anniversaries. On our 25^th there was a reception that our kids and some friends did for us. On our 30^th, our kids and grandkids (we had 4 at that time, now we have 10) surprised us with a special day of activity and then a renewing of our vows with just the family present. At the renewal each of our kids and kids in law wrote something for us and read it to us. That was a memorable celebration for sure.

There have been other times when the church we were serving did some type of celebration for us. But, most of our anniversaries have found us involved in other activities. For a few years we helped direct a teen camp and it always fell on our anniversary which meant we celebrate in the camp cafeteria. This year will be the 17^th in which I have coached a fall sport, which means that many years part of our anniversary was spent at some type of practice. This year will have some of the same. I will have volleyball practice and then we will be with our stateside kids and grandkids as part of a few days together. Maybe we don’t do big celebrations on our anniversaries because we celebrate our relationship often. There are times of cards, flowers, special little gifts, or love notes several times a year.

I think that celebrating is a key to a lasting relationship. Look for things to celebrate and create some things to celebrate. I have always done this, not only in our marriage but also as a pastor, as a coach and as a parent. I love the little celebrations along the way. I am not opposed to a big celebration, but I think too many people only do big celebrations and they miss the joy of the little celebrations all year long.

So here is an early shout out to my wife, Happy 43^rd Anniversary (a week early) honey! I love you and I love doing life with you. Here’s to several more years of celebrating together.

Here’s hoping that all of you find something to celebrate today.

Dennis