I'm Just Sayin by Alan P. Scaglione

“Alan and Bella- My Favorite Pic of US!”

                         

                                       “I’m Just Sayin’”

                                                                 by Alan P. Scaglione

Today is my lovely bride and my anniversary. Yep, 13 years ago….she said yes!

It was the moment that changed my life—

YES she would go out on a date!

YEP… our first date!

You see….we celebrate everything:

-      Our first date

-      The first time we said “I love you!”

-      The night I proposed

-      Twelve Days of Christmas—had to throw that in…I get a present a day for 12 consecutive days—what’s not to love???

-      And of course, Our Wedding Day!

Every year, we mark these dates on our calendar and…we get cards and set up “dates” to commemorate our love.

But it all started with YES!

You have to know just how critical and important that YES was…

We had been family friends for 20 years.

Our children played together.

We were jeopardizing a lifelong friendship…all for one date??

Needless to say, we actually prayed about it…for six weeks.

We did NOT want to mess up our lifelong friendship or the relationship our kids had.

So… when she said “Yes—I will go out with you!”

We both knew…”yikes! This could go one of two ways!!”

Anybody remember the movie “Hope Floats?”

Sandra Bullock… Harry Connick, Jr.

Garth Brooks sang, “Make you feel my love!”

That forever remembered ending “I don’t wanna be called Bernice Mateese!”

Guess you really should put more thought into the movie you choose for a first date—

 May end up being: Your Movie, Your Song and Your favorite line in a movie…

“Sometimes, Hope Floats to the top!”

I mention that we celebrate that First Kiss also?

Yep—that was the moment that changed our lives forever.

If it hadn’t been magical and memorable, I would not be writing this column 13 years later!

But…we didn’t know that! All we knew was…once friends kiss….forever changes their friendship, right?

No pressure! Yeh right!

You know me by now, so you know…I had fasted AND prayed about this date.

I had children, she had children; WE are the parents who put their kids first, so… we did NOT want to mess up our family friendship!

It was so important that we both felt the same way—and we did.

God comes first in our lives, He always has, He always will.

We wanted to show our teenage children that it was possible to “date” under the rules of the Bible—and we did.

I needed to show my son and our daughters how a man courts a lady…earning her trust and respect, along with her heart!

And that all started with…our first date!

I will tell you that…13 years, 6 kids, 2 weddings, 4 grandsons and 1 granddaughter later, not sure sometimes if the kids took our example, but…

We never wavered in our conviction to live a life pleasing to God, celebrating the love that He ordained for us for the rest of our lives!

 I often tell my Bella this:

“God gave me you…to show how much He loves me!”

I also tell her, “I don’t deserve you, but I wake up every day trying to earn you”; She responds, “keep trying!” and we both laugh!

Needless to say…He MUST love ME more than HE loves HER—look what God gave HER to show how much He loves her? ME!

She has a crown in Glory waiting for her…just for loving me every day, still “like it’s the first day”; still loving and supporting me…through it all!

The Word is specific on how we spouses are to love one another:

“Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it!” Ephesians 5:25

That gives me a glimpse of how much Christ loves his Bride…by the way I love mine!

She is worth celebrating!

So… Why not celebrate your spouse?

Until next time,

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”