1 Kings 11:1-3  King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. (NIV)

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I wonder how many true relationships Solomon had with his wives. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. He collected sex partners like he collected horses and chariots, gold and silver.

My bride and I will celebrate our forty-first wedding anniversary soon. She still takes my breath away. She challenges me intellectually. She excels me physically. (However, that’s because I have a four-surgery lead.) She thinks I’m ahead spiritually. Knowing her heart, I’m pretty sure she’s way ahead of me there also. 

I could go on, but I’m beginning to doubt myself. I do not doubt her. If you knew her the way I know her, you would be as overwhelmed with gratitude and awe as I am. 

I remember the really, really hard times. I remember the long, long nights. I remember that really, really good day when . . . Well, some things are better left unsaid. Some memories are better rehearsed within a person’s heart, mind, and relationship. 

My bride was preparing to go somewhere with our daughters this morning. As I stepped into our bedroom as she was walking the other way, I couldn’t help but let out that simple word of exclamation, “wow.” How do sixty-somethings grow in beauty like this woman does? 

Paul Harvey said about his aging wife, whom he lovingly called Angel, that when he looked at her in those golden years, he still saw the girl he married over half a century before. Paul Harvey and I agreed on so much. This is one of those truths. 

I keep a portrait of my bride in her wedding dress near my side of the bed. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to me then. She still is today. 

Solomon might have been the richest and wisest man of his age, but he was a stupid boy for not learning to love one woman for life. His Babe-A-Day Rolodex ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex)doesn’t begin to compare with my love of a lifetime. 

Poor Solomon. He cheated himself out of the kind of love that goes the distance, that stands the tests of time, that makes us feel truly alive. 

I’m no king. I don’t live in a palace. I don’t have every toy and convenience, but I do have a wife I love, a woman I promised to love, honor, and cherish, to serve in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live. As far as I’m concerned, I’m richer by far. 

I’m pretty sure that if Solomon met my wife, he would want to add her to his collection. I would like to have words with him about that: wives are not collectibles; women weren’t made for a foolish king’s self-indulgence. A truly wise man would know that. A truly wise king would model that. 

Sorry, Solomon, she’s all mine, and I’m all hers. 

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I will work on loving my wife ever more deeply across the years of our life.

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Our Father, thank you for blessing me with the perfect bride. She’s everything I wanted and everything I needed. You heard and answered my prayers better than I prayed them. Empower me to love her and her alone with a love that protects and serves. Make me ever more patient and kind. Make me the blessing to her that she is to me. Amen.