We recently celebrated Marilyn’s birthday. It’s been a long association—Marilyn and me. I don’t remember when we first met, probably in Sunday school as first graders. Our families attended Oakthorpe Christian Union Church. Oakthorpe, for those of you who don’t know, is an enduring community of six, maybe seven, homes due east of Pleasantville. My roots run deep in that peaceful community. Mom and Dad grew up together there. Both Marilyn’s and my paternal grandparents were pillars of that community and instrumental in the founding of its church.
My parents moved to rural Berne Township in the early 50’s. Despite the 20 mile distance, Mom and Dad faithfully motored their four sons back and forth to Oakthorpe Church; praying its godly influence might somehow gain eternal traction in their lives.
I believe it was by divine design that Marilyn and I were brought together in this tiny country church. We attended the same Sunday School Classes, Vacation Bible School and Youth Group events growing up. Always aware of one another, we never considered we might be “destined” to spend our lives together. Call it Kismet, good fortune, even dumb luck—but I believe it was God’s grace.
Marilyn and I began dating as soon as I got my license, and we just never looked back. After graduation we each went away to different colleges, pledging to remain faithful to one another, a promise we have relentlessly kept for fifty years.
Courtship was different in those days. There was a prescribed tract known as dating. The first level of commitment was called “going steady” in which the participants exchanged class rings and wore identical bleeding madras shirts and fuzzy mohair sweaters euphemistically called “Match Mates.” Marilyn would wrap my much-too-large-for-her-dainty-finger class ring with mohair thread that matched her outfit. I was suppose to wear her class ring on my pinky finger but Marilyn’s fingers were so tiny, I opted to hang it from a chain around my neck where it remained for the six years we went steady. The next step: engagement. I asked her parents for permission to engage their daughter in the process of preparation for marriage, which they reluctantly agreed. A tiny diamond and an announcement in the Gazette sealed the deal.
We married between my junior and senior year of college. Then you had to be 21 to obtain a marriage license or present a note from your parents. My mom and dad were so happy to see me out of the house that they offered to write the note on my forehead with indelible ink. Marilyn’s parents required some schmoozing. I still have the first folded note they handed me that read, “No, they do not have our permission to be married, signed Wayne and Naomi Williams.” Fortunately, they followed that missive with a giggle and their true permissive.
It’s natural for all of us to consider someone’s birthday as “their special day.” But it occurred to me that as important as this date might be to Marilyn, it is infinitesimally more important to me. Today marks the day the Lord choose to deliver a most incredible person… and today also marks the day He singled me out to be her life partner.
The Scripture assures us that nothing in our lives happens by mere chance, but that all things are a result of God’s grace. We choose neither our parents nor our family. I’m convinced I didn’t choose my wife, but she was chosen for me. That makes her birthday my special day.
King David wrote in Psalm 139:16, “Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
If you consider that God is not only fully aware of every situation you’ve experienced but is also, even now, fully aware of every situation you will ever experience, I believe it makes perfect sense to follow His lead.
Read Ron’s column, Simple Faith, each Saturday on the Faith Page (page 3) of the Lancaster Eagle Gazette, or visit www.lancastereaglegazette.com.