One of the most exciting things about
knowing Annie has been discovering the God-given gifts she
possesses. When we met in 1963, I had no idea that inside the
dairy farmer’s daughter were some incredible abilities that
would someday surface. It was around 1967, for example, that I
learned how well she could sing. As I sat in the high school
choir room and heard her deliver a beautiful solo, her voice was
like a healing balm on a wounded soul. To this day it is still
sweet to my ears.
It was not too many years later, in the midst of the
con-fusion of the 1970s, that I found Annie’s gift of wisdom. I
was caught up in the socially rebellious spirit of the age and
my "lostness" was evident in the songs I was writing. I invited
Annie to my parents’ house to listen to a tune I had recorded.
It was a "Bob Dylanesque" song that was long in lyric but short
on sense. When the tape reached the end, I turned the machine
off and asked, "What do you think?" Without bat-ting her pretty
eyes, she answered, "That sounds like the product of a confused
mind." Was I devastated? Absolutely not! Instead, I was swept
off my feet. Right there in the base-ment of my parents’ house I
was standing next to a genius. She had seen right through my
attempt to be someone I didn’t need to be. Her insightful
response is one of the many reasons I gleefully cleave to her
today! My mama didn’t raise no fool!
I want my son to willingly invest his energy in finding his
wife’s natural abilities and doing everything necessary to
develop them, including spending his hard-earned dollars. I have
happily purchased everything from Crock-Pots to computers to
give my sweetheart the tools she needs to use her gifts.
Ephesians 5:29 points out that "no one ever hated his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it." Annie and I are one flesh, so I
don’t mind treating her as I treat myself. It’s the right thing
to do. Besides, I was sure that every dollar I poured into her
life would yield a hundredfold return in our marriage. And I was
right! The cooking tools resulted in new "folds" in my
waistline, and the computer has given birth to more than eight
books. It has been money, time and effort well spent.