Grateful for..... Lisa

From Victory of...

I am going to follow the lead of Will Samson and post on the many things I am grateful for, in advance of Thanksgiving. 

The handy online dictionary defines grateful as

warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness received

When you first fall in love, it seems unbounded - like discovering a seemingly bottom-less canyon.  I have been lucky enough to be in love with Lisa for almost 30 years - we've travelled through that canyon, reached peaks and even fallen into valleys.

It is an understatement to say that the last several years have been tumultuous for me, time in the deepest part of that canyon.  Lisa has been a rock, showing me patience, support and kindness in a depth and a clarity that leaves me speechless.  In my darkest days, she has bravely held hope and held our family and life together.  I found a wonderful piece of a poem by Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon that captures what Lisa has meant for me in the last few years:

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

From omnia

I am so grateful for the way she continues to embody a love that is described in Paul's letter to the church in Corinth:

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.