Marriage Legacy

Today my Grandma Haas would have been 100 years old. She is spending her birthday with her Savior, husband and son. My Granny was a pretty funny lady. She loved sparkles and shoes that went clickety clack. She sold Avon for years (I loved to play with her tiny lipstick samples). She was a terrible cook. She had a zillion different sayings and stories that would crack us all up. She had the cutest giggle ever. And she hummed all the time, mostly unrecognizable songs. I remember my roommate in college saying she was going to imitate me one day and she walked around the room straightening things and humming. I exclaimed, "That's my grandma!" Gram married my grandfather, Theodore George Haas on June 29, 1935. What was so amazing about this wedding is that they actually won a contest. Everything was provided for their wedding, location, gown, tux, food, flowers, even furniture and a honeymoon ... and for a couple with very little money in the Depression Era, this was a dream come true. Hundreds of people came to their wedding. They were married 26 years (and had seven children - Gaga was number three), when Grandpa died of a blood clot at the age of 50. Yes, my age. My mother was just 18. I remember Gram talking about Grandpa. He was the love of her life. She would smile from ear to ear when she talked about him. One thing I remember her saying about her husband was that he could play the Hawaiian guitar and he would sing "Crazy" by Patsy Cline to her. Grandma Haas died in 2010 at the age of 95.

There are so many marriages now lost to time that have gone before you: Elizabeth and John, Anton and Veronica, Sophie and Louie, Roman and Hattie, Ruth and Teddy. Oh that we could sit down with them all and ask them for marriage advice, hear their stories about their newlywed years and glean wisdom from their experiences. These were not fairytale marriages (even if Granny Haas's started that way). These were marriages that went through hard times: little money, war, death, frustrations, alcoholism, disease, loss of children and anger. But they also had joy and good memories. I am sure they would all tell you, "There will be tough times, but cling to each other and cling to the Father." Every one of the marriages above ended in "till death do us part."

We want you to know that history and understand the commitment these couples made to one another. These were not half or temporary promises. These couples vowed to stay together to the end ... and they did. Some ending much sooner than they hoped.

You have been bequeathed the legacy of marriages that stood the test of life and time. I don't know if it's possible at this juncture for you to comprehend the commitment and work it will take to make your marriage a success, but we pray you are dedicated to making it so. Take the time to speak to couples who have been married a long time who can give you advice on what has worked for them. We don't have our ancestors to speak to, but there are many mentoring couples to learn from. And compare their advice to what God says in the Bible. We want both of you couples to be ones that generations from now, your great-grandchildren will say, "Let me tell you about their marriages and what a beautiful example they were for me." Leave that legacy.

Discussion: Have you ever sat down with a couple who has been married for over 25 years and asked them what has worked for them in their marriage? What are some tips you've learned that you plan to apply? Tell about a marriage that is an example to you.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank you for the life of Ruth Haas and the lives the great-grandparents and grandparents that have gone before us. We pray, Lord, that we will be committed to having strong, faith-based, loving marriages with our focus on You. In Jesus, Amen.