When I first opened the September issue of the Lutheran Witness I was interested in the title "The Joy of Marriage." Our 40 years of marriage had been a constant joy. The article started well and the middle part was very good. I have problems with the final paragraph. One sentence says, "Virtually every marriage goes through times when we simply don't feel love." We never experienced that. I find it difficult to believe that we were alone in this. Our love grew continually. Sometimes we would disappoint each other but that had no effect on our love.

I always considered my wife to be a gift from God. My wife looked at me the same way. Therefore, we both thanked god often for this great blessing. I always said a quick thank-you every time I saw her or even thought about her. We soon realized that our relationship was not just between the two of us because God was in the center, holding us together.

In the same paragraph is another sentence which baffles me. It says, "Christ acted for the benefit of all of us, quite without a continual warm fuzzy feeling of love and joy." I must not understand because it does not seem to fit into the context.

This reply may be too long, but it is only a brief summary of the joy of our marriage