You placed gold on my finger
You brought love like I’d never known
You gave life to our children
And to me a reason to go on
This old country song unashamedly promotes the commitment, love, and family blessings of what many would call ‘traditional’ marriage.
Musing on… a society where marriage is increasingly devalued and dismissed, where its failure is accepted as normal and alternatives are promoted.
…friends where marriage has brought them disillusionment, disappointment and distress.
You’re my bread when I’m hungry
You’re my shelter from troubled winds
You’re my anchor in life’s ocean
But most of all, you’re my best friend
Musing on the marriages of many friends…
…that have been an example to all – and me in particular – in their compassion, parenting skills, faithfulness, peacefulness, home-making, welcoming, consistency and unconditional love.
…that have endured with love and determination through adversity and setback – cancer treatments, mental breakdown, bankruptcy, homelessness, the death of a child…
…that have been rocked by an affair, major moral failure, addiction or betrayal, yet have survived and emerged stronger through confession, forgiveness, determination and love.
Musing on our family and marriage – imperfect, changing, enduring, personal, 49 years next month… with deep gratitude.
When I need hope and inspiration
You’re always strong when I’m tired and weak
I could search this whole world over
You’d still be everything that I need
Musing on… this gold standard, this ideal example of marriage that spills over to all relationships and friendships. I seek to give and receive such ‘hope and inspiration’.
The images that this song uses are all Biblical and used to describe an individual’s relationship with God…
I recognising that this could equally well be my prayer to a caring, providing God who relates to me individually…
You’re my bread when I’m hungry
You’re my shelter from troubled winds
You’re my anchor in life’s ocean
But most of all you’re my best friend
malcolmsmusings.org 
Sitting at the computer when your musing arrived, read your words and played the song. Such a thoughtful and meaningful song. Someone else I need to enquire more about. Thank you. May even play the song to Janet as well !!!
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My brother and I sang this song together at my parents’ 40th Wedding Anniversary party in October 2016. Little did I know when I sang it, that my own 15 1/2 year marriage was about to end.
I have such a mixture of relief and grief about the failure of my first marriage … no one gets married to get divorced, after all … but so much healing has taken place since that painful experience, both for myself, and for my children, and so I have acquired a peace about it now.
I hope that I have carried the lessons from my first marriage into my second marriage, learning that in order for a marriage to survive, both parties have to be committed to its survival, and both parties have to be willing to learn and grow and adapt, and to be honest and authentic with each other. Second marriage definitely isn’t easy, with two broken and scarred individuals becoming one imperfect entity, trying to learn, heal and grow together, but I look to the future with hope.
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Good thoughts, Rebecca.
I like the song because it highlights and emphasises the positive aspects of marriage without dwelling on the negative…. which I sometimes need to do
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Thanks Keith…. it’s meaningful to me too
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