“How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.”
~ Song of Songs 1:15
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think that true love between a guy and a gal is like? There is going to be a day when you will experience a heart palpitating/stomach butterflying sensation – called love, which you will not be able to bottle. The warm, caring love that you feel today from your dad and ma is not the same love that you will feel the day when you come to realize that you want to live the rest of your life with a very special someone who is making you feel totally alive, immeasurably happy and unconditionally loved. God – as God the Father, has hardwired a guy and a gal to physically, emotionally and spiritually love each other in different ways but in harmony with each other. If an unexplainable magnetism or an inexplicable attraction between a guy and a gal leads to the two marrying, the result will be that two unique, diverse beings of opposite sex will become one entity with the love commonality driving them to want to be physically, emotionally and spiritually always together on the same page. Displaying tenderness and praying together will become a natural residual of a relationship between a guy and a gal who know that they are conjugally together because God – as God the Father, ordained it and made it happen according to His divine plan. Your grandpaa is convinced that if a guy and a gal are not physically attracted to each other that they will never experience what it is like to be passionately in love. Your grandpaa is also convinced that the guy must be who drives an emerging relationship with a gal and that his courtship of the gal really begins after he marries the gal.
If your grandmaa and grandpaa had not been students at Dordt College at about the same time, your grandmaa and grandpaa probably would never have met. Other than Dordt College being one of the Bible colleges that has been founded by the Christian Reformed Church denomination – which is the denomination of churches that your grandpaa’s dad and ma are members of in Volga, South Dakota – and where they took each Sunday your grandpaa and the rest of the kids in your grandpaa’s family unit, your grandpaa does not remember why he decided that he wanted to go to Dordt College let alone why he decided that he wanted to go to college at all. Your grandmaa was encouraged by her pastor and her mother to go to Dordt College. Your grandmaa’s dad and ma were members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church that is located in Wilmington, Delaware. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church denomination’s Bible college is Westminster Seminary. Westminster Seminary is located in Philadelphia – not far from where your grandmaa was living in Wilmington. Sioux Center, Iowa – which is where Dordt College is located, is over 120 miles from Volga and over 1200 miles from Wilmington. Until your grandmaa and grandpaa kissed each other, your grandpaa did not know what it was like to be with a gal and to kiss with the gal. Your grandpaa really was a very introverted farm kid who had never kissed a gal. Your grandmaa was voted the shyest gal in her class during her senior year at DuPont High School in Wilmington. The class that your grandmaa was in in her senior year at DuPont High School had nearly 300 guys and gals in it. The class that your grandpaa was in in his senior year at Volga Public High School had 40 guys and gals in it. If it was not for your dad’s Aunt Katie, your grandmaa and grandpaa may still have never gotten together. Your dad’s Aunt Katie asked your grandmaa if she would like to come home with her – to Volga, during a long weekend. Your grandpaa’s sis had just started going to Dordt College. Your grandpaa was in his second year at Dordt College. Your grandpaa’s sis and your grandmaa were staying in the same house dorm with over 20 other gals. Your grandmaa was okay with going on a double date with your grandpaa and with Danny Vander Berg and another gal – Joy Van Haak, who was also staying in the same dorm where your grandpaa’s sis and your grandmaa were staying and who your grandpaa’s sis had also invited to go home with her. Your grandmaa and grandpaa went with Danny and Joy to Watertown, South Dakota to go bowling in a bowling alley that is located in Watertown. There were two unforgettable moments that first evening that your grandmaa and grandpaa went on their first date together. The first moment was when your grandmaa – who bowls quite well, dropped a bowling ball behind her as she was moving forward to roll it down the bowling alley. The bowling ball had enough backspin on it that when it hit the floor, it rolled forward – but down another alley and into the alley’s gutter. Later – on their way back to Volga and just as Danny drove over a railroad track crossing . . . your grandmaa opened up a relationship door into your grandpaa’s life that had never been opened before – having an absolutely beautiful, fun-loving young gal willing to step into his life with a kiss.
Solomon wrote over 1000 songs. One of the songs that Solomon wrote is the Song of Songs. Your grandpaa has never written your grandmaa a song as . . . your grandpaa can envision himself with your grandmaa just as Solomon wrote of himself as a shepherd in Song of Songs 1 and his special gal friend as a shepherdess. There is a sense that Solomon and his special gal friend could not spend enough time together. That was the way that your grandmaa and grandpaa felt towards each other as their relationship grew. Verse 15 describes how your grandpaa saw your grandmaa – and how he still sees your grandmaa, “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.” Your dad’s Uncle Jimmy once told your grandpaa that the luckiest day of your grandpaa’s life was the day when your grandmaa married your grandpaa. The day when you know that you have connected with that someone who unconditionally accepts your love and unreservedly loves you . . . you will never forget that day.
Song of Songs 1 (680)