This Has Haunted Me
#TBT - When we were asked to do this cover five years ago, I was very reluctant. I shirked at the idea of being thought of as a “power couple” because I thought that it might come across as pretentious or implying that we thought of ourselves as having such “power,” whatever that meant. For me, the insinuation was that by virtue of the fact that we agreed to being on the cover, were we not implying that somehow we were “powerful” in some way? I wasn’t comfortable with the idea. Nevertheless, because SA Monthly Magazine allowed us to tell our story the way we wanted, we agreed.
The cover has haunted me since, in good ways and bad. It has been brought up in negative ways when advantageous to opportunists, and, in positive ways, for those who see it for what it is...shredding light on a couple’s philanthropic efforts. Five years later, I’ve decided I’m going to own it ...mainly because I have realized in my old age what being a “power couple” really means...
1. You are not the most successful, but you work together to create the success that you do have
2. You are not the most beautiful, but you take care of yourselves and you strive to live healthy lifestyles
3. You are not the most intelligent, but you use the gifts that God gave you to bring glory to Him and others
4. You are not the best parents, but you give everything you have to your children to help them be and do their very best
5. You are not the wisest, but you learn from your mistakes, brush yourself off, pick yourself up and begin anew
6. You are not infallible, but you work together towards a common goal and keep each other in check along the way
7. You are not passive, but you have a strong enough sense of yourself to respect your mate’s opinion and listen unconditionally
8. You are not competitive with each other, no matter how determined you are in life to attain your own personal goals
9. You are not so arrogant that you can’t recognize your and your spouse’s weaknesses, but chose to focus on the respective strengths
10. You are not so egotistical that you can’t be each other’s biggest cheerleader and fan
11. You are not so self-centered that you can’t recognize that each of you brings strengths to the relationship where the other may fall short
But the most important thing is that you are not so broken that you can’t lean on each other Physically, Emotionally and, most importantly, Spiritually. You’re not threatened by the other’s spiritual growth, even if one out-paces the other periodically. You recognize that a human’s desire to know God only makes them better, more powerful people...and because the sum is always greater than its parts, it makes you both a better, more powerful couple.
If that is a “power couple,” well...I guess that is what we are and I’m sure many of you out there are as well. ❤️
Original article available right here.
