Keep Loving Him
My father-in-law was precious to me.
Wes and I had a special bond, especially after he became a widower. Ray’s mother died after Ray and I had been married only six months. For the next four years, Wes, Ray, and I were a threesome who enjoyed many special times together. We didn’t live in the same town because Ray was in graduate school and later in his early months of ministry. However, we enjoyed our visits to Ray’s daddy’s house and his visits to ours.
Ray’s parents had been married for 30 years. Three years after Ray’s mother died, Wes got married again to a widowed lady who had been Ray’s family’s neighbor when Ray was a young boy. Wes and Christine were married for 20 years. Our family enjoyed many happy visits with Wes and Christine. After she died, we again spent special times with Wes. He lived alone for seven months and then moved in with us. He was 85.
Ray and I have almost always been a one-car couple. One day Wes was with me when I dropped Ray off at the church office. “I love you,” I said to Ray.
“Keep loving him,” said my sweet father-in-law.
I have followed his excellent advice when it was easy and when it was hard. Ray has loved me when it was easy and when it was hard, too. It’s one of the most important things you can do for your children.
Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior,
not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine,
teaching what is good,
so that they may encourage the young women
to love their husbands, to love their children,
to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind,
being subject to their own husbands,
so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Titus 2:3-5