This is a different kind of Valentine (it wasn't written for Valentine's Day, but I thought it was appropriate to share for today). I will try to very briefly explain this letter, since there is already so much text in this post (but it is worth reading all of it!!!). My last year of college, Pastor Dave Owen at Providence taught a series to the college students on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. It was very beneficial to me because I was preparing for marriage to Aaron. I got the CDs from that series and have occasionally gone back to listen to some of the sermons over the past six years. He read this letter at the end of his sermon on Biblical Womanhood. The background behind the letter is very important:

-It is written by a woman to her father-in-law.
-The woman was previously a radical feminist and had grown up in a fatherless home.
-She held a Ph.D from Oxford University.
-She was one of four female deans at Oxford in their 1200 year history.

I typed this up by listening to the CD and transcribing it, so if there are grammatical errors, it's my fault (not the lady who has a Ph.D from Oxford :)). I also added some emphasis. My prayer for this over-commercialized Valentine's holiday is that I would be reminded to regard Aaron in the same manner, treasuring him, and serving him with such humility, respect, and thankfulness to God for such grace in giving him to me!

When I was little I used to believe with all my heart in white knights on great horses, and good princes with hearts of gold, and dragon slayers on horses. As I grew older, I didn't become so cynical that I lost complete sight of this, but I did bury such dreams away. They were too dangerous to believe in because such hereos could not truly exist. But they do...modeled in Christ, they do. I have learned so many things in learning about my faith, among them just what a reflection relationships in our lives are of his love for us. The ultimate of all these is marriage. Your eldest son is a hero. He saved me from myself and he saved me from the world. He continues to save me constantly through the giving of himself, through his incarnation of what it is like to be me, to assume my burdens and relieve my worries. My relationship with God is like anyone else's: ultimately a personal one. But your son has translated it for me into the dynamics of living it, of seeing it in action. I have been in love for your son for a long time; so much so I had resigned myself to him not ever loving me back if need be. I would rather love him at a distance that anyone else up close. But by the grace of God, he does love me. My heart still marvels at that, and I doubt I will ever be able to completely prevent it from doing so. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for him. God help anyone who crosses him or tries to. I am his bulldog and his butterfly. But most of all, I just want to serve him. I just want to do all I can to glorify him. I truly believe that the best way I can live my life , to God's glory, is to live it in glorifying your son. It may sound silly, but I mean it with every fiber of my being, when I say that it gives me more honor to iron a single shirt of his that to teach a million classes at Oxford. I am not immaturely or what they call "blindly" in love, for I see...boy, do I see! And the vision centers on Superman. I admit, it is selfish; for me to do him ease gives me ease, to make him happy makes me happy. He is everything to me and I am to him. You have raised a hero. You have raised, lovingly, someone I barely dared to believe existed. Bless you always, always for that! And know you have my undying respect and love for all that you both are. Your son I fear sometimes worries a little that I may be resentful or one day regret giving all things up, i.e. professionally, for him. He sometimes intimates such. We have to work on him here. You so kindly offer your help to me, perhaps you can help me in this way, perhaps you can help him see that all is worthless to me without him. I feel like a finely trained athlete, a race horse at the gate, an edgy runner at the start line. I have been trained my whole life for him. And now I am ready to go. To run the race with him, to help him in every suitable way along the way. Sure, I may have many things here in a place I've worked very hard to reach, but I am miserable without your son. Because there exists nothing else even remotely worth investing in. I so want him to rest with ease in knowing that full. My greatest honor comes from bearing his name, not the initials of a degree or the bearing of children; not producing an article or holding a position. The only position I want is one by his side, from his side. Your son is a treasure. Any true intelligence I own is precisely because I know his worth. Of all the things Oxford gave me, and could have given me, it brought me to your son, and he led me to Christ. Life began there.