SubscribeMy lasting image of marriage
Two images of marriage grabbed my attention within hours of each other this week. The first was a picture of a couple whose marriage has endured for more than 80 years of significant world changes; the second was a picture of a newly married couple whose union is transforming the world as I know it.
I came across this first story Monday night while searching for something else on the Internet. It’s pretty remarkable – a black couple married for 85 years. That’s a world record and an accomplishment worthy of praise, given all the bad press about the state of the black family. Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher – 104 and 101, respectively – have been hanging in there with each other, through the good and the bad, since they married in their late teens. In 1924 when Calvin Coolidge was president.
The New Bern, N.C. couple, who have known each other since elementary school, have been in and out of the news for years. I missed their Valentine’s Day Twitter event, where they offered free marriage advice. A savvy granddaughter help set up the interesting Twitter cast.
They both agreed on what has kept them together for so many years: If you “put God first in your life, and love and sacrifice for your family … blessings will be bestowed upon you,” they told Jet magazine in 2006.
Their story conjured up memories of my parent’s marriage, which lasted 49 years until my mother’s death, and sparked fond recollections of an aunt and uncle who celebrated 68 years together in January. My husband and I are on a countdown to 27 years in May. These are the pictures of marriage that I most readily identify with, the ones that match the traditional biblical views I grew up with and still carry.
A different picture now is coming into the foreground.
When I picked up my morning newspaper from the kitchen counter yesterday, I saw the second image commanding the front page. Happiness and joy shone in the faces of the two men – with baby daughters in their arms - who were among the first gay couples to marry in the District of Columbia. For the first time on Tuesday, about a dozen gay couples were able to legally exchange marriage vows in Washington. Five other states also allow same-sex couples to marry.
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty yesterday called the weddings “a great step forward for equality.” A minister who officiated at the ceremony of two women declared, “Today, your love for each other knows no limits. It is free.”
I have been following the news story about the D.C. Council’s trek to same-sex marriages with growing interest for some time, and have read numerous blogs and commentaries on the subject. The history-making event ended a long battle for gay activists. I have mixed emotions about this because I know and care about people who would benefit from this change – if they choose to – who would be beaming like the guys in the photo on their own wedding day. I understand that we all want love and happiness.
However, it is difficult to look at the second picture of marriage without my filters popping up. My lens is colored by my belief in the Bible as the Word of God, which says marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. The world is changing; marriage is changing. But God’s word does not change; it remains the same today as it did a century ago.
What do you think?
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Marriage is one of the most sacred ceremonies that we humans experience. Being married also gives us happines.”~;
marriage is great specially if you have found a very special someone that is beautiful both on the inside and outside.**.