A Love Letter

Love is patient,
love is kind
and is not jealous;
love does not brag
and is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account

a wrong suffered,
[keeps no record of wrongs]

does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.

Love never fails

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Are you Newlyweds?

We are unabashed Hand Holders! If you are the same, you know what we mean. You can't walk next to your husband or wife without your hands being magnetically attracted to each other! :-) Some couples even have a specific side that they must walk on, holding their spouse's hand specifically with their left or right. We trade sides, but his forefinger always slides right between her pinky and ring fingers.

We're always fascinated watching other couples, when we're out on our Weekly Date Days/Nights. Just a couple weeks ago, we noticed a husband walking about 20 feet in front of his wife...they didn't look angry with each other...they just weren't together. We actually get excited when we see couples holding hands. It's normally the young, unmarried couples, or the cute older couples. We've been married 16 years and we hold hands everywhere, while walking, in grocery stores, in a restaurant. We're frequently asked if we're newlyweds.

A couple years ago, I read an article about Hand Holding and how it reduces stress in women (men were not tested). A trigger sent a level of stress through a woman's body. She encountered the most stress if she was holding no hand. A little less if she was holding a stranger's hand. Even less stress if she was holding her husband's hand. And she encountered the least stress if she was holding her husband's hand and had rated her marital quality higher than most.

So! What can we learn from this? Two things...

1. If you're a hand holder...good for you!

2. If you're not, grab your wife's hand! Grab your hubby's hand! You just might get asked if you're a Newlyweds! :-)