"Just the WAY you are”

Long before Bruno Mars came out with his song, ‘Just the way you are’ - the great one, 

Billy Joel coined the phrase, ‘I love you…just the way you are.’ I’m convinced that Bruno couldn’t have received inspiration for his version any other way.

On this day set aside to put into action our love for those that mean so very much to us, I’ve come to realize more than ever what these five words could mean to our Valentine.

Scripture says that if you compare yourself with another…you are not wise. Marriages and other relationships have been destroyed because of this very thing.

For all that ever comes out of these comparisons is absolute ignorance.

Too many live this life with if only…

If only my wife would be like her.
If only our marriage was like them.
If only I could get my life together like him/her.

This year I celebrate 17 years that Susan Hill has been my Valentine. This June will be our 15^th year of marital chaos J. Chaos because life together with your best friend never allows normal to take over. It brings this for the simple reason: best friends are consistently pushing one another to reach for and become more. Average will not do, for greatness is found beyond the ordinary.

I do not claim to know it all, but I do know one thing: Anytime my wife and I have struggled, it can always be traced back to comparing.
If I were more like _____; if she were more like ______; if our marriage could be more like ______; on an on the list goes, which leads to ignorant comments and decisions that are made.

I am so far from perfect. I wake up everyday to climb back into the fight of striving to be a better man, husband, and father. 

Yet, Susan Hill has never tried to change me…she has only challenged me to be better. In other words, she doesn’t compare me to other men in this world, nor does she compare our marriage to another. She loves me just the way I am. That is how we have made it through the ‘chaos’ of these 17 years.

I’m humbled to have been given the greatest gift a man could ever ask for. 

And there is nothing more meaningful one could say to another...
“Su…I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

Billy Joel, sing it for me:

I said I love you and that's forever

And this I promise from the heart

I could not love you any better

I love you just the way you are.

Disclaimer: Mushy? Yes. Ashamed? No.