Completed - A tribute to my bride

Today is a significant day in the Guerino household, as my bride celebrates her 38th birthday. Her birthday in April and our anniversary in August are two times I try to carve a little space out of the daily schedule and reflect on who Amy is, and what she's meant to me.

This year, the word that comes to mind is "completed." I feel completed by her in ways that are probably not evident to others. I specifically benefit from the way Amy's mind works, and how her thinking completes mine. I tend to be a big picture, thinker-type (just look at my last three posts for evidence!) which has its strengths. For one, this helps me be an effective teaching pastor because God has so wired me that I enjoy understanding and explaining.

But it has its downsides too, and maybe the biggest is that most of us don't live life on the "big picture" plain. We live in the here-and-now, and while we need to see how that relates to the big picture, we also need the big picture to relate to us. What I'm getting at is that I can tend to miss people, or fail to connect with "real life" as I get lost in a multitude of ideas. And this is where Amy comes in. She keeps me grounded.

Most people probably don't realize the extent to which I lean on her for this. Even in sermon prep, she helps ground my conceptual thinking in daily living. I typically talk through most sermons with her while they're still developing. Sometimes she just listens, often she comments or makes suggestions. And 99.9% of the time her suggestions focus or even change the direction of where I'm going, because in having talked to her I suddenly realize what needs to be said.

She is able to play this role because of how hard she has worked to internalize the Bible, theology, and biblical worldview. She is able to understand me when I'm up in the conceptual clouds, and so she serves as a bridge from the clouds back to the earth. I'm extremely proud of the way she's studied, learned, and allowed her mind to be stretched, and her example challenges me to allow my soul and my feelings to be similarly stretched. All that makes me a better preacher, leader, and father. So, to the extent that any of you enjoy my teaching on Sundays you're benefiting from Amy's influence whether you realize it or not.

Amy, I'm proud to be your husband. And I wouldn't be the man, the father, or even the preacher I am if I were married to anyone else. I thank God for making you exactly the way he chose to, and for letting me walk the road of life with you. Happy birthday!

Matthew


NOW, for any readers who know Amy please consider this post an online birthday card: consider leaving a comment for Amy (she'll read them all) and expressing what you appreciate about her on this 38th anniversary of her birth. Thanks!

Amy and I at the 2008 Emerald Bowl in San Francisco (where Cal beat Miami 24-17!)