It is, as we will continue to be reminded for the next 13 days, Valentine's month. Yesterday, I shared a joyful breakfast with a friend whose son wed a delightful young lady in January. Their start together is captured so well
here. We have high hopes for their 'ever after'.
As my wife and I are well into the 'ever after', I have seen how much 'happily' there can be. Marriage at its finest is so enriching. Truth be told, though, it isn't 'ever' as in 'forever' happy. There is a steady accumulation of daily choices resulting in a two becoming one, or in a slow drifting that ultimately leads to two individuals who don't know each other. Every day I have to choose, because I wake up a slightly different person than I was yesterday, and my bride does as well. After 32 years, that can be a lot of change.
Do the vows mean something two or three decades later after the bloom of youth has been eroded by work and children and the simple struggle to live? I have found the vows continue to mean something when I live them in the light of something higher:
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself… “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound…"
Yes, the vows continue to mean something!! They are quite sacred, and they are quite a blessing...IF you continue to love each other the way that Jesus loves His Bride!
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