50 Years Ago: a Wedding and a Marriage Revisited!

November 27, 1971

Dear John Loyd, Thank you for 50 years together of “married bliss.”

Fifty years of struggling to learn how to do life together… to care for one another … to throw off the lies we believed about what marriage was all about … like those lies of the extreme views of the total headship of the male and the extreme submission of the female — those lies just about killed the love we started out with, didn’t they?

And then there were those masks we had to shed (and some we still do), trying to be the real person inside. The transparency and vulnerability are still in process.

Then there is God’s sense of humor in putting together an only child (you) with the oldest of 7 (me) — “know it all” you and “boss of the mob” me. Still working on that one, aren’t we?

There’s plenty more but through it all, God has been teaching us, His beloved son and His beloved daughter, how to throw off our prideful self-effort and independent ways and let HIM live through us to His glory…in humility and total dependence on HIM.

So thank you for sticking with it and with me — loving me, being my stabilizer, paying the bills, taking the long drives hither and yon, doing the dishes, and on and on. Truly, I haven’t taken anything for granted. You have been God’s gift to me, our children, and our grandchildren. And I hope I have been that to you, my dear John Loyd!

So here’s to the remaining years we have together — our wedding verse:

Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt HIS name TOGETHER
Psalm 34:3 Amen.

Love always
Jan

PS SCROLL down for pictures and other items.
And to see past anniversary blogposts click on these:

49 years — The Devil Hates Marriage— https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/the-devil-hates-marriage-every-year-of-it
48 years — Grow Old along with Me —https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/grow-old-along-with-me?rq=anniversary%20

47 years — Touching Each Other’s Soul— https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/touching-each-others-soul?rq=wedding%20anniversary%20

46 Years — Sandpaper and Polish — https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/sandpaper-polish-reflecting-on-a-46-year-marriage?rq=wedding%20anniversary%20

45 years — Caring & Commitment— https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/theres-something-to-say-for-caring-and-commitment-45-years-with-one-man?rq=wedding%20anniversary%20

44 years — Through the 44 Years: the Best of All — https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/through-the-44-years-the-best-of-all

43 years — 43 Years with the Same Man? — https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/41-years-with-the-same-man-reflections-on-an-enduring-marriage?rq=wedding%20anniversary%20

41 years — John’s Response: theRansom of Red Chief — https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/the-rest-of-the-story-john-replies-to-41-years-with-the-same-man?rq=wedding%20anniversary%20

40 years — Holding Hands for Forty Years — https://www.abranchinthevine.com/blog/holding-hands-for-40-years?rq=wedding%20anniversary%20