Proverbs 5:18

Proverbs 5 is written as a father's direct advice to his son about sexual faithfulness. The chapter warns at length about the dangers of adultery — how it begins as sweetness and ends in destruction. Right in the middle of all that warning, the father offers this: a blessing, almost like a prayer. The 'fountain' is a Hebrew metaphor for vitality, intimacy, and the source of life. 'The wife of your youth' refers to the woman the son married when they were both young and everything was fresh. The father isn't just saying 'don't cheat' — he's saying something more hopeful: may you keep finding genuine joy in her, year after year.

Father, thank you for the gift of love that lasts. Guard my heart against the slow drift of taking the people I love for granted. Bless my closest relationships — and give me the grace to keep choosing them, not out of duty, but out of honest joy. Amen.

Notice that this verse isn't a command. It's a blessing — almost a prayer. The father doesn't say 'you must rejoice.' He says 'may you rejoice.' There's something tender in that. He knows it isn't automatic. He knows that long-term love doesn't sustain itself on its own momentum. So he offers it as a wish: may this be true for you. May your love not just survive, but flourish. The word 'rejoice' is doing heavy lifting here. Not 'may you tolerate her.' Not 'may you stay out of obligation.' Rejoice — real, alive, genuine delight in the person you first chose. That kind of love doesn't happen by accident over ten or twenty or forty years. It's cultivated. It's chosen on Tuesday mornings when choosing is unremarkable, and protected on the nights when something else catches your eye. Whether or not you're married, the question this verse quietly raises is this: Who are the people you've committed to — and are you rejoicing in them, or just enduring them?