The Meaning of 23

People often attach meanings to words, phrases, and symbols.  There are even those who attach meaning to numbers.  As you may know, gematria is a system which assigns numerical value to a word or phrase and then attaches meaning to it.  

According to one website which looks at such things, the number 23 has meaning in that it is the number of letters in the verse "And God said, ‘Let there be light!’ And there was light." || ויאמר א-להים יהי אור ויהי אור – Genesis 1:3.

Not sure what meaning comes from that, but…

Another site records these associations with the number 23:

-At the moment of his assassination, Caesar was stabbed 23 times.

-The circulation of the blood through all the human body takes 23 seconds.

-The number of articulation in the human arm is 23.

-The 23 axioms of the geometry of Euclid.

-The 23 days of the "physical" cycle in the biorhythm.

-The ovule and the spermatozoon are composed both of 23 chromosomes.

-The number 23 is used 14 times in the Bible.  (So…???)

-The words leprous, dragon and blasphemy are used 23 times in the Bible. (Eeww, not so great)

According to another site with some rather New Age leanings, The most common trait found within the Number 23 is the ability to adapt and change.

Here’s my favorite definition of the number:  “Twenty-three: the cardinal number that is the sum of twenty-two and one.”  Now, that’s something to hang your hat on.

Well, for me 23 has significant meaning today.  I know it’s the 24^th, but it was on this day 23 years ago that this woman

 entered into a covenant relationship with this lug nut

(Yes, she married a long-haired Zorro wanna be who drove a Ford Pinto. Makes you wonder about her sanity, doesn't it?)

So, for me, 23 measures the span of time in which this wonderful, godly woman has endured a life of the challenges unique to ministry.  23 years of listening to her husband try and preach; of smiling while church people occasionally mistreated her; of making the most of often less than adequate financial means, never complaining about any of it.   

23 is the number of the trips around the sun we’ve taken together, during which time God sent four little lives into our world that totally reshaped us.  Though I hate to give any credence at all to the numerology nuts, that idea of adapt and change certainly applies.  

I could go on, but the “sum” is this: 23 represents the number of years of extreme blessing God has poured down on me through my beautiful wife.  Like all things of grace, I don’t deserve her.   I can never thank Him enough, or thank her enough for that matter.  So I’ll simply say: 

Happy Anniversary, Cheryl.   

I love you now more than ever and 

look forward to every day God gives me with you!