Marriage

I'm married.

Sometimes I stop and look up at the sky and say, "REALLY?!?!?!" in wonder and amazement at the blessings of our God. I am married, to an amazing man, who loves God and loves people and loves me.

Requited love is seriously awesome.

My husband (oh, how I love saying that) is also quite awesome. He spoiled me rotten on my honeymoon, not only materially with gifts and dinners out and such but also with his tender loving care. Any man out there who is or wants to be a husband should know that the traits which truly make a wife tremble with delight are as follows: gentleness, faithfulness, sincerity, lovingkindness, patience, servanthood, confidence, encouragement, passion, and a good dose of silliness. My husband possesses these traits in spades.

It's easy for folks to dismiss my gushing as newlywed bliss, but my mom speaks of these traits in my father, and how they still make her giddy, even after twenty-something years of marriage. The trick, I think, is to keep this constant love and gratitude alive. It is too easy to let apathy and irritation steal the joy of these blessed times, when what we need is to live in this sense of goodness and blessing always, no matter the circumstances.

It's the same way with God I think-we lose our utter devotion and sense of awe, our giddy enjoyment of the presence of the Savior. Pastor Eugene reminded us this weekend in his sermon that God is amazing-absolutely astounding-and He is pursuing us, which is even more incredible! And so we must give our lives to Him, pursue Him as He draws us near. This is why marriage is an example of the mystery of Christ and the church-a constant cycle of love and pursuit, of fulfillment and desire, of service and blessing. But it must be lived out each and every moment. We cannot let love die on the vine.

I seek to love God and my husband with an ever-growing, ever-deepening love, a love that will not grow stagnant through the years but will instead be full of joy as the decades pass.

Here's to joy, and being happily married.