November 16
“An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.” (Proverbs 31:10 NASB)
Why is it that on my wife’s birthday every year, I’m the one who feels like he’s received the gift?
I met her at a weekly Bible Study. I had been asked to teach the study on that particular night and she was in attendance with a group of her friends. I know I met her friends that night as well, I just don’t remember meeting them. I only remember meeting Danni. I remember thinking how strikingly beautiful her eyes were. Deep green. Emerald green. Emeralds set in the whitest whites I had ever seen. A year and a half later, we were married.
Danni is God’s gift to me. The scriptures say, “Fathers can give their sons an inheritance of houses and wealth, but only the LORD can give an understanding wife” (Pr. 19:14 NLT). She understands me. She encourages me. She believes in me even when I find it hard to believe in myself.
She also astounds me. If you could bottle an hour’s worth of her energy, you could power a large city for a year. She has more enthusiasm for life than most anybody I know. She is the personification of Tigger from the Whinnie the Pooh stories. “Bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun!” Watch a couple of old “I Love Lucy” episodes, and you’ll have a pretty good picture of our life together. The one with Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory is a perfect representation of her and her friend, Becky.
The Proverb says, “A joyful heart is good medicine” (Pr. 17:22). I’m healthy because I have the good medicine of a joyful heart. My heart is joyful because I have a good wife. I have a good wife because she is a gift from the Lord.
It’s my wife’s birthday. But, once again, I have received the gift.
© Paul R Downing. Daybreak Devotions.