Today is my wife Paula’s birthday.  So, Happy Birthday, Paula!

Not only is this a special day for her, it is a special day for me.  Today I get to celebrate who she is and what she’s meant to my life. As I’ve been thinking about our relationship and how important it is, I’ve come up with one word to describe my wife.  The word is “lift.”

From the first moments we met until this, Paula has provided lift in my life.  She lifted me when she introduced me to a real relationship with Jesus Christ.  She lifted me when she encouraged me to go for my dreams.  She lifted me when she supported me through college, seminary, and graduate school for ten long years; working, raising children, and doing all the things that make her so important to me to this very day.

So Paula, thank you for lifting me; for lifting my eyes above my average existence, for lifting me out of my self-centeredness to looking not at what the world could give me, but what I could give the world; for lifting me through all the times when I failed to be there for her emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

I wouldn’t be half the man I am today if I hadn’t experienced the lift of my wife’s love.  If you’re a married guy or even a married gal, how would you describe your spouse?  Maybe you’re someone who wants to be married one day.  What one word would describe the relationship called marriage if you could define it?  What are you looking for?  For me, the word is lift.

For you it may be another word.  The importance is in understanding the one thing that most defines your relationship.  For me and Paula, it’s lift.  She has lifted me and I know will continue to do so.  That’s why I don’t just celebrate her birthday, I celebrate the amazing woman that she is.  She has helped me understand what womanhood really is, what a godly woman is, what a self-sacrificing, loving Christian should be.

Paula, thank you for the lift.