Too Young?

February is a very busy month of celebrations for the Ohlerkings.

Danny’s birthday is the 8th. Lincoln’s birthday is the 9th. David III’s birthday is the 25th. Rhodes and Rhett’s birthday is the 29th.

Wednesday is Valentine’s Day. That’s Dave’s birthday. It’s also our anniversary.

Dave and I were just young kids when we married. It was his 19th birthday. I was 18. We were in love.

There was a secular song out about that time, “Too Young,” sung by the velvety voice of Nat King Cole.

Well, yesterday as we were playing a CD of golden oldies, that song came up. As we drove down the hill from Susan’s house here in Swaziland, our minds went back to the early days of our marriage. There were people who were whispering (and not too quietly either) things like, “This will never last. They are just too young.” Hence our love of this tune.

They try to tell us we're too young
Too young to really be in love
They say that love's a word
A word we've only heard
But can't begin to know the meaning of
And yet we're not too young to know
This love will last though years may go
And then some day they may recall
We were not too young at all

Too bad the whisperers are dead and gone now. We’d show them!

(Sometimes the best thing we can do for young marrieds who seem too immature to “make it” in the commitment they have made to each other, is to encourage them to celebrate their love, showing them by our own marriages how to grow their love for each other. How to stick it out through the tough places as well as the smooth. How to view differences as opportunities to know each other better. How to laugh and cry together. How to love each other no matter what. )

Marriage is not just a union, it’s a continual meshing of each one’s lives, hearts, spirits, souls. It’s worth all the effort when you look back over 48 years of loving and growing and raising a family (4 kids, and 12 grandkids) and serving God together.

Thanks, Dave, for 48 wonderful years. We weren't too young after all!

Thanks, God, for blessing us beyond measure.