What's Your Investment?

The following is one of our favorite stories because we feel that it shows a true picture of the investment we are making into our marriages.  Are you investing the right amount?  Or are you investing what others say that you should invest?  Or do you invest according to God's promises of a spouse worth more than you can imagine? Read the story and decide for yourself.....


In the story, Johnny Lingo is a shrewd trader, said to be one of the richest men on his island. Lingo has come to one island to bargain for a wife. Mahana, the young woman he desires, is considered by her neighbors and even her father to be of little value, sullen, ugly and undesirable. As the bargaining is about to begin, women of the island brag to each other of how many cows their husbands had given for each of them, and comment that Mahana's father will be lucky to see one cow as Lingo's offer. The counselor advises Mahana's father to ask for three cows so that finally, Moki (Mahana's father) will at least get one cow.
The bargaining begins and as the counselor suggested Moke asked Johnny Lingo three cows. Islanders laugh derisively, then wait for Lingo to make his counter-offer, certain that he will make a devastating bargain.
Lingo, considering, says that three cows are many . . ."But not enough for my Mahana!" He then offers the unheard-of price of eight cows for her hand in marriage. The next day, the villagers gather at the house of Mahana's father to see the completion of the deal. Some of the islanders say that Lingo reconsidered his deal and would not show up. But Lingo brings the cows. He and Mahana then leave the island on a trading trip.
When they come back, the island storekeeper discovers, to his astonishment, that Mahana is a beautiful, happy woman. Even Mahana's father began accusing Johnny Lingo of cheating him by giving only eight cows for a girl truly worth ten cows. Johnny, her proud husband, had proved to her that her true worth had nothing to do with what others saw, but only what she truly was. He had made the best bargain of all -- a few cows for a life with the woman that he loved.

Think about it...what are you investing?

Josh and Serena