Short and Sweet on Marriage

Blogging has been slow these past few weeks... thanks for keeping up with us by adding us to your feed! I promise I will keep up with Missional Music Mondays, but I didn't want that to be the only thing I blogged. For his birthday, Chris received tickets to see Starfield, one of our favorite bands, in September. Starfield has some pretty awesome and missional songs that I look forward to introducing you to.

As we prepare for the mission field, Chris and I are doing as much as we can to strengthen our marriage. We know that what is difficult here could be exacerbated by the demands of prefield and the confusion of the mission field, so we are working now so endure later.

In that vein, I leave you with this radical quote from John Piper on marriage. It applies to so many aspects of life, though.

Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically; it is mainly about displaying the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Being united to Christ by faith is a greater source of material success than perfect sex and double-income prosperity.

So it is with marriage. It is a momentary gift. It may last a lifetime, or it may be snatched away on the honeymoon. Either way, it is short. It may have many bright days, or it may be covered with clouds. If we make secondary things primary, we will be embittered at the sorrows we must face. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be, no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way. Every one of them will be, not an obstacle to success, but a way to succeed. The beauty of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.

Lat week Chris and I were chatting about a woman we know who spent ten years of her marriage raising her children while her husband was in a vegetative state following a horrific car accident. This precious woman knows what it means to give and not receive anything in return. Chris commented that most people he knows would say, "I don't think I could do that," about her situation. "But," Chris said, "that's what marriage is. You're supposed to serve without expecting anything in return."

I am blessed.