My dad walking me down the aisle.
What is marriage? Why do we marry? Why do so few Christian marriages go the distance? How is your marriage different? What advice to you have to share with those who are considering marriage or those in any phase of marriage?
Marriage according to Mirriam Webster's first definition is: 1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.
I remember when I was in graduate school, my Sunday School teacher, mentor and friend, Carolee Loar challenged our class of young singles to consider what marriage was and write out our definitions. I took the assignment seriously and wrote a great deal. I spend a long time this evening looking in vain for that piece of paper that I kept somewhere safe... Maybe someday I will find it...
Marriage was a frightening prospect for me back then because I was terrified of failure. I had seen too many marriages end badly and wanted to avoid that for myself even if it meant never marrying, but at the same time I wanted to be married so much. I wanted to be loved and to be special to someone. I spent a lot of time praying about marriage and for a possible future spouse and for several young men I hoped would fill that role at various times.
Next month Rick and I will celebrate our eleventh anniversary. We married on the 50th anniversary of my grandparents.
I've read some challenging books about marriage in the last year by Gary Thomas and I highly recommend them to anyone who is married or considering marriage. Sacred Marriage and Sacred Influence are both powerful books that have the potential to change the way we think about marriage. For more info check out my Reading Room Blog - do a search with Gary Thomas' name or the titles of the books mentioned. Consider this quote, Gary shares this quote in Sacred Marriage, "If we view the marriage relationship as an opportunity to excel in love, it doesn’t matter how difficult the person is whom we are called to love; it doesn’t matter even whether that love is ever returned. We can still excel at love. We can still say, “Like it or not, I’m going to love you like nobody ever has.”
Randy Alcorn, a favorite author of mine, shared some of his thoughts about marriage on his blog because an assistant of his married this weekend. Check out his post here.
Let's all spend some time praying for our marriages and the marriages of those who are dear to us. Marriage can be wonderful, yet it can be the most challenging thing we'll ever experience. Storm heaven on the behalf of marriages everywhere!
