a recipe for marriage
Trying to find my favorite recipe in an old book, they all tumbled out. Handwritten cards in my own pen of dishes to prepare. Need to have lots of those on hand I was told on the brink of my new life as a wife. It's a wonder I even found them in the days of google searches and pinterest feeds. I thumbed through them with a smile remembering the innocence and the eagerness. Wanting so desperately to be one of the good ones.
All week I have been pondering that. Are we one of the good ones? I woke up this morning and he had roses and a card this morning waiting to remind me of the day. When I wore white, surrounded by our family and friends, locking hands and reciting vows. All the promises spoken that day. The weight of it can't even be understood in the beginning. Yet a girl and a boy stood there nervously shaking their heads in agreement that they did.
And it's not too long after the unpacking of the gifts and the boxes of a new life that you begin to realize that all the recipes you brought along were not his favorites. And the way he leaves his laundry right next to the hamper would make you crazy. The melting together isn't nearly as smooth as the commitments that tumbled out of your mouth. Not even close. You wonder what you were thinking because this looks nothing like the movies.
I am not sure the exact day or moment when I saw it or knew that all the emotion of love for each other couldn't mend all the hard that would come. With the best of adventures, the brokenness that would surface and spill out. How raising children would bring overwhelming joy yet unspeakable heartbreak. Even in the best of days, ministry would try it's best to break us. And tragedy comes and sadness can hang on too long. And sometimes leaning on each other would be more weight that one could bare. How does any marriage ever survive?
But Jesus. But Love and so much grace. The boy and the girl who said yes. Say yes everyday to God. Say yes to what He wants to do in one single heart. And this is what brings the two and makes them one. And that sweet love you felt in the beginning transforms you in the most surprising beautiful ways. All because you choose to allow love to do it's work. In you. Through you.
And so it goes on. This journey of oneness. To be one of the good ones. The recipe that works. That lasted.
Thankful today 28 years ago you decided to take on such a adventure with me.
And it's not too long after the unpacking of the gifts and the boxes of a new life that you begin to realize that all the recipes you brought along were not his favorites. And the way he leaves his laundry right next to the hamper would make you crazy. The melting together isn't nearly as smooth as the commitments that tumbled out of your mouth. Not even close. You wonder what you were thinking because this looks nothing like the movies.
I am not sure the exact day or moment when I saw it or knew that all the emotion of love for each other couldn't mend all the hard that would come. With the best of adventures, the brokenness that would surface and spill out. How raising children would bring overwhelming joy yet unspeakable heartbreak. Even in the best of days, ministry would try it's best to break us. And tragedy comes and sadness can hang on too long. And sometimes leaning on each other would be more weight that one could bare. How does any marriage ever survive?
And so it goes on. This journey of oneness. To be one of the good ones. The recipe that works. That lasted.
Thankful today 28 years ago you decided to take on such a adventure with me.
