Sunday, April 9, 2017

For One Another

“You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.” C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Since the last time I wrote about the blooming relationship God planted in my life last year, a lot has transpired. Matthew and I knew even then, in the early stages of our relationship, that we loved each other. Neither of us could imagine life without the other, and we knew that neither of us wanted our relationship to end. Ever. So, within a couple of months of dating, we started talking about marriage, and forever. By the beginning of this year, we were both already committed to forever together. On January 2nd, after we spent a long weekend with my family in Colorado, he got a tattoo of an infinity symbol, designed to appear like a penguin too. He knows how much I like penguins. Also, penguins are monogamous for life. This symbol of his permanent love and dedication, as well as my love and dedication (I would never have allowed him to get that tattoo if I wasn't 100% sure that we were permanent), was an outward statement to the world to declare just how sure we were/are about each other. A little over a month later (on February 11th), he asked me to marry him. I said, "YES", without a trace of doubt, and with certainty in every facet of my existence. We will be married in a little over a month from now (on May 20th). I will become his wife, and stepmom to his beautiful daughter. Our lives will be forever joined, and the next chapter will be started.

For some, this seems fast, too fast. For us, it feels as if time slowed down, and somehow the immensity of everything between us remains impossibly contained in time spaces that don't seem large enough to hold all of it. Never before has any of my human relationships felt so absolute and divine. I've experienced the ultimate relationship that a human can experience, in my relationship with God. I've experienced friendships that were so authentic that it made me draw closer to both that person and God. But I've never experienced something with another human being that connects my soul with theirs in the way that Matthew and I are connected now. He is my best friend. He is the love of my life. He is my protector, shelter, and leader.

I've never been more sure that God designed someone specifically with me in mind, and brought that person into my life. I would choose Matthew, and he would choose me, an infinite number of times, in an infinite number of lives. Even so, it's clear that God chose us for one another.