small things {vitamins}

small things #29 ... vitamins

Today Brett and I celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary.  

And we still really, really like each other.  Still the bestest friends.  Still choosing time together over any other options.  Still laughing at the same silly jokes.

It's easy for me to take this easy-going and satisfying friendship for granted ... until I come face to face with the reality of someone else's marriage on the rocks.  My heart aches as I sit around a MOPS table and hear the hardness and sadness of a marriage straining and suffering.  I shake my head in bewilderment as I read headlines about some celebrity's marriage being annulled after a mere 72 days.  I'm without words as I hear one of my kids tell me about a classmate whose parents are divorcing.  Again.

What are we doing differently?  Better?  What words of encouragement or insight do I have to offer?

I could jump in and say something about how God is at the center of our marriage.  And that would be true.

I could declare that we try to have date nights and time for just the two of us.  Also true.

I could point out that we do our best to be nice to each other ... thinking before we speak or act.  True again.

I could say that we still seek each other out to enjoy our mutual interests ... movies, games, walks.  More truth.

But I think one important aspect of our marriage would be found in a single act.

Doling out one another's nightly vitamins.

The simplicity of this act of service is almost ridiculous and yet ... this moment of serving sums up our attitudes toward one another.  This simple act is one of many throughout the day that brings security and stability to our busy (and often chaotic) days.

Here.  

Let me help you.  

Let me do this one thing that says, "I love you."  

Let me think of you as I go about this mundane task.

With one twist of those child-proof caps, we are turning the ordinary routine of heading to bed into something sacred.  

Vitamins ... evidence of a commitment to good health.  
And to serving each other.