A Beautiful Life
An Open Letter to My Beloved
ANON—West Malaysia
My beloved and dearest Wife,
Accept first my most sincere and
heartfelt apologies for not being able to find the right words and the proper
setting to write this to you. It has been a long time since I have last written
to you … too long. The failure of course is entirely mine.
We have both tasted and
experienced life together since the time we were united in Holy Matrimony, when
we then both walked down the aisle joyously, with much anticipation for our
life together after receiving the Lord’s blessings through His minister. What a
life - “la dolce vita” … a Beautiful life under the mercies and embrace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Beautiful, not because our life was always filled with
sweetness and joy …. No, far from that. We have tasted our fair share of sweet
and joyous moments, but we have also tasted sorrows, regret and disappointment
aplenty.
Yet Beautiful even in our moments
of sorrow, despair and resentment, in times when we were down, when trials,
tribulations and adversity were pouring down on us, when the seeds of
disagreement, discord and discontentment had sprouted on our path – all these
have allowed us to emerge stronger than before … together … under the guidance
of our Heavenly Father. A blessing. A Beauty.
In this journey we have travailed
together since we exchanged our vows before our Lord. We have since been
blessed with offspring, Beautiful and wondrous gifts from our Lord, whom we
both love and lavish with much affection. We have christened them all to the
Lord, and we have both accepted the heavy duty to bring them up God-fearing. To
instill the love of God and Christian values in children in this current
corrupt and crumbling world is by no means an easy task; but it allows us the
opportunity to serve our Lord as responsible parents and religious teachers,
instructing our children in the path of salvation. What Beautiful times we have
shared together as a family in laughter and tears, but most of all, in prayer
and devotion, with our hands clasped together with that of the little ones.
What bliss. What Beauty.
We love and cherish all our gifts
and treasures that the Lord has entrusted to us, all Beautiful, all good. As we
love them, we learn to love on a higher level than ever before; only now can we
begin to fathom the love of the Lord for all of us as His children. Yet one of
our treasures has been taken away, our Beautiful child whom we lost, whom our
Lord has loved so deeply, so much more than we could ever have. He has been
taken back, away from our hugs and kisses, to be with the Lord forever. We miss
him dearly, and remember our child in our prayers every day, the child whom we
can never again hold in this life who is the Beautiful bond of our family; the
child whom we and his siblings will never ever forget.
My wife, my beloved, I thank you
for wanting so much for the betterment of our family and for giving up so much
personal space and needs for the greater good. I treasure the fact that, over
the years, your needs and your wants have been those of the family, over and
above that of your personal needs and wants. I admire the courage and inner
strength you have found to make the difficult decisions which I have cowered
from, often in the face of many malign comments from myself and others too.
Although you may have been discouraged, you never lost sight of what was
important for you. These are Beautiful attributes. On behalf of our family, I
thank you now, but I am sure the children will express their fulsome gratitude
in their later years.
I ask that you will never lose
sight of compassion and mercy, the true attributes of the Christian life that
we profess. This will ensure that the life we have together will always be Beautiful.
What are we without the compassion and mercies of God but outcasts in the land
of the living dead? Through the mercy of the Lord and His compassion for us, we
who are unworthy are made whole through the everlasting love of the Lord.
Do also remember not to be too
hasty and impulsive … always think carefully before you act, and be patient as
the Lord has been patient with us. He will have His time and His way. Listen to
others and keep your ear close at all times to listen out to the soft
whisperings of the Lord which can be easily drowned by the rigors and troubles
of daily life and routine.
Have faith that the Lord will have
His Beautiful path and way. Faith is what happens when the Lord reaches out to
us, as He always has and always will, and we respond with complete trust, love
and submission. In our life together—yesterday, today and tomorrow—faith does
not mean that there are no shocks in store, no crises, no tragedies. It does,
however, mean that we will walk with God together, and live this life as
husband and wife, as one family, without deserting one another. Although there
will be trials, tribulations, pain, sorrows and disagreements, our Lord will
always be there with us, giving us support and strength. We must always be
there with Him. We must live this Beautiful life together. “La dolce vita”.
My beloved, my wife, flesh of my
flesh,
“Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it” (Song
8:7).
Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. Charm
is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall
be praised. … let her own works praise her in the gates. (Prov 31:10, 30, 31)
Yours lovingly,
Your Husband
