I am on a plane heading home and experiencing delays in my flight schedule. To pass the time I picked up a magazine not knowing what I was about to read.

It’s been an emotional day filled with conflicting feelings – saying goodbye to a friend who’s moving, having good news from Stu Gray at The Marry Blogger (we made the Top Ten List for 2010!!!), talking a couple of times with Tom who is also away on business and whom I’m missing very much!

Anyway, back to my magazine…Jeff Bridges, son of Lloyd Bridges, was being interviewed about his relationships. He shared what he had learned from his Dad,

“It wasn’t anything he said necessarily, but how he behaved. You could tell how much fun he was having, and when you’re feeling good and relaxed and in the moment, your best work comes out.”

What a powerful reminder of the effect we can have on our children and/or spouse, by living in the moment! This is exactly how I am purposing to live and finding great joy in the process.

The next part that affected me was his response when asked about his 33 year marriage to his wife, Sue,

“That’s another thing I’ve learned from my parents – how they navigate the waters of marriage. I guess it comes down to practice. And not getting a divorce! (Laughs!) one of the tough things is being separated for long periods of time, so even when I’m working, I try to check in with her everyday. And of course we have bumps, but I’ve found that the tough times are when you really learn something. All those bumps are opportunities to enlarge your capacity for love.”

Isn’t that powerful?  Our difficulties teach us great lessons we would learn in no other way, and once they’re past, we find ourselves more in love than before. In our 32 years together we couldn’t agree more.  I wouldn’t want to relive our difficult times, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world!  For it was in those moments when Tom and I learned more about ourselves and each other and the power of God to change us in the process.

So, it’s good from time to time to step back and look at the big picture.  For me, it took climbing the sky in an airplane, so I could read about Jeff Bridges and his perspective.  I am amazed at how God has allowed us to practice loving each other.  Just when marriage gets really hard, is when God is right there ready to open blinded eyes and expand the beautiful view.  But we can’t quit.  It takes commitment to reach those moments, but once we do – we’ll forever thank God for helping us make it through.

Speaking of making it through – WE HAVE BEEN NAMED A TOP 10 MARRIAGE BLOG FOR 2010!!! Thank you for voting for us!  This is one of those moments when we are glad we continued doing what we knew that we should do.  We are humbled and honored to be named among such quality marriage blogs.  May God be glorified and praised!

So, how’s the view from your seat?