I was born on September 20, 1982. A significant day for me, because I was born. On May 25, 1984 something happened that would change my life forever that I would not realize until 21 years later. Rebecca was born on that day. 21 years later I would ask for her hand in marriage. God had created my companion and best friend, but I had not a clue. “God demonstrated this goodness by creating us male and female. . .who were made to be together and to find ourselves as we give ourselves away.” (Justin Taylor)

I believe whole heartedly that a great spouse is not found accidentally without guidance from God. You see a great spouse is a gift from God and does not come, as some imagine, in answer to our planning and sizing up. (Paraphrased from Martin Luther)  From day one we see that God purposefully creates Adam and Eve for each other, perfectly suited for each other. Which lets me know that if God made my wife, Rebecca, he must be in love with me.

What is interesting in this thing called marriage is that we truly find ourselves when we give ourselves away completely. Completely and unselfishly we are to give ourselves to each other. For a marriage to work it has to be all or nothing. Thomas Howard explains in the mystery of love, as God planned it, “No one can ever figure out who is doing the giving and who the receiving.” Real lovers, “know that giving and receiving are a splendid and hilarious paradox in which, lo, the giving becomes receiving, the receiving giving until any efforts to sort it our collapse in merriment or adoration.”

So giving, receiving, being unselfish, what does it means to echo Eden? I can't really explain the mysteries of marriage and love, but I have a hint of what the echoes of Eden include. It includes what I have written above and so much more.

The echoes of Eden are apparent when I kiss my wife and I still get weak in the knees, it's her touch, her smile that picks me up and gets me through. It's that gleam in her eyes. It's the slow dances, the candle light dinners. It's when I am away I miss her, it's when I feel down because she is down. “These are the echoes of Eden, reflections of what we were created for, hints of the passion and freedom, that awaits on the other side of heaven's door.” (Steven Curtis Chapman)

True echoes of Eden come when you are completely and unselfishly committed to the one you love. That is where the passion and freedom comes from. It all amounts to this, “The quality of life does not consist in the number of experiences on has, but in the depth of commitments.” (Ben Patterson)