things that kinda frighten me: MARRIAGE

It probably makes me unusual to say such a thing and to be a young, single woman.  In fact, many women my age want nothing more than to be married to the man they've always dreamed of and live happily ever after.  While I'm definitely not knocking marriage and would like to be married one day (if that's the Lord's will), I'm realizing more and more that marriage is: no dream to be taken lightly, doesn't solve all your problems, and it takes work.

With four engaged couples in my college-young adult group and plenty of married people in my life, marriage is always, at least, in my peripheral; all of this forces me to think about it whether I want to or not.  It's kinda annoying at times, for no other reason than there are things that are actually a part of my life that concern me. But that's no matter and that'll never go away, so I just deal.  But lately, marriage has been all up in my face, and it's not the pretty side I'm seeing, it's the side that isn't mentioned at the end of the princess movies.  It's the side that makes married couples split up, or that cause people to just "live together" because they want the convenience of just bailing out when times get uncomfortable.

I know that God created marriage and that it is to be a model of the relationship of Christ and His Bride, the Church.  But the truth is we imperfect humans will never completely get it right; we'll never be perfect representations of Christ and His Church, no matter how hard we try.  Paul called marriage a great mystery at the end of the fifth chapter of Ephesians and a mystery it is indeed.  There are so many things about marriage that I don't understand, that married couples don't understand.

The good news is God has all the answers and He's the perfect lover.  The Church is not perfect because it is made of humans, but God loves Her anyways because He is faithful and He created Her.  Isaiah 62 is about 'divine unrest until Israel [is] restored', but the first half of it is God speaking of his love for Jerusalem; verse five is a beautiful example of His love for Jerusalem, but I like it because He feels this way about me and everyone else who is part of His Beloved Church: "For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."  Is that not super?  He rejoices over us, His bride!

Lately, I've been seeing people's marriages fall apart, new and old; and the truth is I started off this blog post to express all my questions and concerns about marriage, but I was reminded of the goodness of God. I certainly don't have all the answers to a perfect marriage, and no one will ever have a perfect one, us fallen humans will never get it all right even if we do know the answers.  The comforting thing about...everything, really, is that I'm in love with the Ultimate Lover and my love, though inconsistent, unsteady, and imperfect, is growing.  Even better, He rejoices over me, and His love is consistent, steady, and quite perfect.

Happy St. Valentine's day...be romanced by the Ultimate Lover.

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