Biblical statements puzzled me on how marriage transforms two individuals into one. The concept did not prove itself in our early married years.
Now in our maturity we experience a growing dependence on each other out of necessity. His body is beginning to shut down, while my brain has seen fit to do the same. I tell him laughingly, “Together, we make one good person.”
I’m now tackling heavy-duty tasks such as taking out the trash and yard work. In return, he helps me remember little things, such as what I just said or what we came to the store to buy.
We took on a project recently which never would have happened years before. He and I assembled a kitchen island. It helped that we had already put one together. This time it only took three hours, as compared to the previous 12.
Feeling successful, we decided to try a repair. One of our kitchen drawers stuck with the back half falling off the tracks. Besides scaring me, it served to block the surrounding drawers.
My husband’s rusty haunches creaked as with his flashlight, he squatted to diagnose the problem. It appeared fixable with just a replaced screw, but immovable bars blocked the way. My mate’s days of being limber had passed; besides his arm didn’t fit into the space.
It was a special moment for me. Formerly only able to assist by holding a flashlight or supporting something, I was at last playing a starring role. My husband, not I, would be holding the flashlight, while yours truly fixed the drawer.
Gingerly, I knelt down on my boney knees attempting to reach the screw. Meanwhile my hubby aimed the light on the needed spot, stretching to stay out of my way. The angle I needed to maintain required some unusual maneuvering in a tight space. At the same time, I avoided knocking over the tenuous screw while working around a painfully-strained husband.
My weird sense of humor kicked in, so I fought back laughter as I pictured how it would look to an outsider suddenly entering our kitchen. What was this older couple, who surely knew better, up to?
Finally, we untangled and my husband retired while I brainstormed with plan B. By laying the lit flashlight on its bottom, I could see the target. Weaving my arms through the bars, I prayed concerning screws staying put, and within a minute, our drawer became functional.
It seems like a petty thing, but since that incident, I feel a special glow whenever I open and close this drawer effortlessly. I still halfway expect to have it lurch off the ledge, but when it doesn’t, I smile. Though he didn’t perform the actual work, my hubby created the solution. We worked as a team.
It appears that God has anointed our interdependence in our later years to teach us how to be each other’s best resource. Together we can learn to use our individual strengths to compensate for our weaknesses. With one another we are more than just the sum of our individual selves.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ”
(Ecclesiastes 4:9 ESV)
Dianna
Sharing the Fruit of Maturity
