Woke up to a sunny day, and a breakfast tray from my husband. The sky looks like the sky on our wedding day, a kind of gold-tinted bright blue, but here there is frost on the ground. That day two years ago was so magical, but I'm glad to be into the adventure now, just starting out on the road of life together. I never thought I could learn so much about myself so quickly. Lots of bad things too, which have needed to be put right!
Ephesians 5:22-4 has proven to be foundational to me in married life so far, so I'm going to type it out here :
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands." (ESV) (...followed by some equally sacrificial yet different instructions for husbands, but as I'm a wife we won't worry about that right now!)
I know its obvious, but if I was going to read a passage on marriage every day it would be this one. I know from my experience now (not just super-Christian ideals!) that this really works. If I honour my husband and quieten my (often nagging!) soul to trust him (and God) in letting him lead our family it makes all the difference in the world. When I don't do this everything feels wrong, and when we put things right our home returns to joy and peace and intimacy. How strange to have a life so affected by the actions and attitudes of another person! Equally, what a responsibility to handle the heart of another person so closely, and how devastating it can be to see the effects of my nagging or complaining or anger (the list goes on!) on them. But in the moments of getting it right I get a glimpse of God's beautiful design for marriage, and my eyes are lifted to our reflection of the relationship between Jesus and the Church, and to the glory of God seen in a marriage. My convictions and vision for our marriage have not changed, if anything they are more captivating. I know now for certain that a marriage thrives year after year because of God alone (yes, people stay married without knowing or loving God but they also end up living seperate lives or having physical or emotional affairs or just running out of things to say - I know I'm generalising, but this is true enough to generalise!). This is a supernatural miracle of God's grace and I praise Him for His goodness in sustaining our marriage.
My dreams for the next year? I have so much to learn! One major thing is that I want to live out Romans 15:7 more consistently: "Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God". This has not always been true of me so far! But the more I spend time (through reading the Bible and prayer) contemplating the extraordinary grace given to me through Jesus, the more I am able to extend grace to my husband. With God's help I want to welcome my husband with unconditional love and acceptance in all circumstances. I'm also looking forward to serving our church more together and growing in intimacy. Our love story is exciting! I'm living it now, not just reading about it in a novel or watching it in a film. I have my own love story which is real, and I can't wait to see what happens next. Lovely to see you again, x
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