Happy Birthday, Jim!

Questions flew between the two.

Did she love Jesus, did he?

Aha, want to meet for coffee?

Bingo, the match seemed a coup!

—Judi Mayfield, 2013

And that’s exactly how it happened! It was a coup! What does “coup” mean? Merriam-Webster: “A sudden decisive exercise of force.” Both of us desired to meet the right person and here it happened. Our story really could be a movie. We met. We fell in love. We married. And we lived happily ever after–or at least until “death do us part.”

There’s a lot more to the story of course. Both of us had jumped into a wrong relationship and fortunately, in both of our lives, the relationship ended before a disastrous marriage could take place.

There’s lots more to say about each of our previous lives, but today, I want to focus on the guy who boldly called me and asked for a date. He pursued me. Anyone who knows Jim, knows he is persistent! He loves a challenge and he’ll go after it. He doesn’t do that, however, without a lot of prayer and direction from his Bible. Psalm 119 is his favorite chapter and he often–like at least once a week–meditates on those words of promise and wisdom. That’s Jim.

On Sunday, Jim will turn seventy-five. It’s a milestone and I’d like to honor him.

Happy birthday, dearest Jim!

I wrote this acronym a few years ago, James P. Mozena:

J-Joyful. He is joyful in

everything he does. I will ask him a question

and he’ll joyfully turn enquiring, “Yes?”

A– Active. He is the most up-

wired guy I know. “Would you like

to….?” He always says, “Yes!”—

With that smile and energy!

M–Manly. There are several

adjectives that describe manly:

masculine, courageous,

honorable. All three fit my Jim to a “T”!

E-Enthusiastic.All. The. Time.

S–Spiritual. He murmurs as

he’s getting out of bed, readying

our morning coffee, chores, “Thank-you Jesus,” he

whispers.

 

P – Passionate. Jim passionately loves me.

He shows me with everything he does.

He passionately loves his family.

And my family. And most of all,

he is passionate about his belief in

Jesus Christ, his Savior and God.

 

M–Merry. Jim absolutely loves Merry Christmases.

That’s why we chose this season to get married (December 7).

O–Order. Jim likes order. He makes coffee for me every morning

—but the night before, he must grind the coffee beans

and ready the coffee pot.

Z–Zest. Jim has a zest for life. Everything he does, is with zest.

When he gets in the flower beds to weed, he comes into the house

with lots of mud on his knees because he zestfully weeds, cleans,

makes coffee, stirs the pot, washes the car, worships his Lord.

E–Even-tempered. I have never heard Jim raise his voice.

He is calm and even. I feel safe with him.

N–Negotiator. Most of Jim’s career was spent negotiating

with all-knowing doctors in better ways to run their clinics.

He persistently stuck to his ideas of process improvement—

because he knew it was the right method.

A– Jim adores me.

Of course Jim is not a saint and wouldn’t claim to be, but take it from one who lives with him, he is all of those attributes listed above and more. We both are so glad that in our fourth quarter of life we met and will finish our life on earth together until God takes us home. Our love for each other doesn’t take away from the love we each had for our previous spouses as I expressed in my new book:

Sometimes people ask us, “Do you love your present wife/husband as much as you did your late spouses?”

I like Jim’s analysis of his love for me. He describes his love like an urn made of pottery. When he married his wife Kathy, he loved her with everything he could. The urn was full.

Then during the trials of raising a family, facing the death of their daughter, and the deadly Pulmonary Fibrosis that took her life, Jim’s love filled the urn to the brim. After she died, the urn seemed like it was scrubbed by grief and loss and stretched even larger.

When Jim met me, his vessel had grown. He had the capacity to love me even more. Not that his love for Kathy was less, he gave her all the love he had the capacity to give. Now his vessel was larger and had a greater capacity to love. (From A Trustworthy Anchor).