I don’t remember where I was but traveling the road with Mark, my husband. He wanted to get a new window cling at the exchange because, his words, he worked so hard for his stripes. Granted, he served 23.5 years in the US Marines. He did work hard for them.

I immediately thought of my true spouse, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The “Bridegroom”. How He had earned His “stripes” through a scourging. It just didn’t equal and never can.