Dating is fun.

Being engaged is exciting.

Weddings are a great big party that celebrates love and committment.

Marriage is tough.

Good…….but tough.

Worth it…..but not easy.

I’ve been married to the same man for almost 36 years.

So I know.  And he knows. 🙂

In order to stay married, we have had to work through it all.  And stuff just keeps coming at us.

Every year, as I begin reading through the Bible again, I pause when I read Genesis 3:20, “Adam named his wife Eve.”

This was after they had lived in the Garden of Eden with God for who knows how long.  This was after they had eaten the apple and sinned.

Up to this point, they were both called Adam.  They both completed the person of Adam.

How much would our perspective of marriage change if we sincerely considered ourselves – man and wife – to be one person?  It wouldn’t be, “why does he always do that” or “she drives me crazy when she does that”.

It would be more like “my leg always likes to cramp up” or “my neck is stiff and its driving me crazy”.  There’s no ‘out’ option unless you want to cut off your leg or chop off your head.

When our leg cramps up, we rub it and stretch it.  When our neck is stiff, we massage it and warm it up.  When a physical part of us is having a problem, we work with the issue, figure out how to help it and get help if we need it.

man+woman =one.

VERY different than the ‘throw away’ attitude our culture has of marriage today, isn’t it?

Sometimes married people joke about their ‘better half’.  What if we really believed that?  How would our marriages be different if we acted like we believed that?

Please help us honor you with our marriages, Abba Father.