Monday, November 28, 2011

Commitment

After 3 months of marriage
 
I, Ashley, take you Mike, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day 
forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to 
cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.



When I first looked into Mike's eyes and said my vows I just knew...as long as we had love we could get through anything!  I knew that our lives would always be as full of romance as they were right then and that no matter what, we would always be able to make one another happy.

Marriage.

We, like so many before us, fell into the trap of believing those common misconceptions that couples have when they say their "I do's".  We all think we are going to ride off into the sunset and our lives are going to be nothing but sunshine and butterflies.  Never do we dream of all the challenges we will inevitably have in store for us. 

Children...housework...deployments...arguments...work...family...loss...
sickness...debt...decisions...relocations

The one common denominator all these things hopefully have is commitment.  There are times in marriage
when you will be stretched and tested beyond your limits, or what you once thought were your limits.  There will be some times in your marriage when you will look at your spouse and not even like who you're looking at it.  Then there will be those pivotal moments when you realize there is no one else in this world you would rather walk through the pits of hell with than the man/woman you are married to.


Marriage is not always about the feeling of love.  At some point it becomes a decision to love.  A husband and wife have to decide over and over again to put forth the effort into the relationship, even when they don't feel like it and especially when those trials inevitably come along.  You have to decide to encourage one another; to respect one another and to put in the effort it takes to keep a marriage alive.

By no means do I have all the answers, nor will I EVER pretend to.  In fact, the ONLY thing I know for sure is that no relationship comes with a lifetime guarantee.  Author, Gary Thomas talks about marriage and says,

"If happiness is our primary goal, we'll get a divorce as soon as happiness seems to wane.  If receiving love is our primary goal, we'll dump our spouse as soon as they seem to be less attentive. But if we marry for the glory of God, to model His love and commitment to our children, and to reveal His witness to the world, divorce makes no sense." 
  
Remember...for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health...
until death do us part.


After 10 years of marriage.


1 comment:

  1. Love it! And I definitely needed to read this tonight! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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