mate

Someone has compiled the following list of observations about married life:

* A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

* Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed. Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

* A man is a person who will pay two dollars for a one-dollar item he wants. A woman will pay one dollar for a two-dollar item that she doesn't want.

* To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.

* When women are depressed, they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.

* A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does.

* A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

* There are two times when a man doesn't understand a woman - before marriage and after marriage.

* Only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way. The other is to let her have it.

* Any married man should forget his mistakes - there's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

* A man has six items in his bathroom - a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, deodorant and a towel. The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 437. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.

* A woman always has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

Although I am sometimes accused of being personally responsible for the deterioration of relations between men and women in this country, my wife and I can joke about such things because, deep down, we realize how much we mean to each other.

Allow me to share some personal thoughts with you. God has truly blessed me with the most wonderful woman on the face of this earth. We have shared our lives together for over 26 years. We thought when we first got married that it couldn't get any better, but it has (and it continues to do so!).

I hold my wife personally responsibility for anything I may achieve in this life. She is my source of strength and my encouragement when things are rough. She is the one who knows me best, with all my shortcomings and failures, and yet still loves me. She always sees the best in me, and always manages to bring out the best in me. She is one I most enjoy talking to and spending time with. She is my best friend. How blessed I am!

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD." (Prov. 18:22)

"Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth." (Prov. 5:18)

Those of you who are married, I encourage you to give thanks to God for the blessing He has given you. Those who are not married (but hope to be), I pray that God will someday bless you with a mate as wonderful as mine.