The Best Thing

Whenever my wife and I go on vacation we always ask each other the same question on our the way home. "What was your favorite thing from this vacation?"

The answers always vary with each vacation it seems. It might be eating at Big Boy, a walk on the beach, or car bingo. This time however our answer was different.

It wasn't anything we did specifically. It was more of a general 'joy.' And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this feeling we had, our 'best thing,' is what God wants for us to feel every day.

Our 'best thing' this past week had two parts to it. The first was being away from all of the 'noise.' And by 'noise' I mean no television news to watch and no busy, over-stuffed schedules to keep.

Once that first part got accomplished, part two was a whole lot easier. And that was just simply being with, and enjoying, each other.

For example, my wife wanted to go to a glass blowing shop in a nearby town. We never got there. And why not? We were enjoying ourselves in the moment - eating 'ice cream products' on a shady porch at the visitor center. With a side of people watching.

Our joy became complete simply by just being with each other, wherever we were.

"The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone." - Genesis 2:18

Like I said, I like to play disc golf, and I did so upon occasion, but on our 'ice cream date,' disc golf was the farthest thing from my mind. Why? Our time together was our priority.

Before Adam sinned, he and God had a wonderful time together, enjoying each other's company. Walking through the garden, naming animals....

Later, in Genesis 2:25, Adam and Eve were still in the Garden of Eden. Paradise. "They were naked and felt no shame."

"Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." - Genesis 2:25

They had no schedules to keep, Eve wasn't fretting over what outfit to wear. Adam didn't foresake his wife to go play golf. Nor did Eve leave her husband to go watch someone blow glass.

Their joy was found with each other and with God.

If both halves of a marriage, or any relationship for that matter, place their own interests last, the relationship will thrive. Why? Because doing so honors God.

“Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” - Mark 9:35

When we think of others and their needs before our own, we become their servant. If both halves of a relationship do that won't we be fulfilling God's desire for us?

Joy is found in God. It is the reward we receive when we place ourselves last, as His servants. As Jesus said, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." John 15:11

"And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known." - In The Garden

In The Garden - Alan Jackson