Imagine with me for a moment you want to practice something different in your marriage. Imagine you decided to work on your selfhood, becoming the best you that you can be by committing daily to the growth process and dedicating yourself to the freedom, the maturity, and the welfare of your spouse. Imagine if you stopped focusing on what doesn’t work in your marriage and focused on your marital strengths, embracing yourself and your spouse as two powerful people with competencies to build a beautiful union. Imagine how delightful your marriage would become if you celebrated one another’s differences instead of trying to conform your spouse to your image of how he or she should be. Imagine what it would look like to create the type of marriage that is rich with sexual passion because your understanding of sexuality has matured past fear of intimacy into being freely naked and unashamed. Lastly, imagine a marriage with two fully self-differentiated and healthy individuals nourishing and cherishing one another the way Christ does His bride.
Invite the word of God to be your compass for developing love in your life and marriage relationship. The Bible commands the weak to declare that they are strong (Joel 3:10) and says that the power of life and death is in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). 1 Corinthians 13 is a powerful declaration. Consider its truth as you read the verses in a personalized way, replacing the word “love” with “I.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV personalized), “I am patient, I am kind. I do not envy, I do not boast, I am not proud. I do not dishonor others, I am not self-seeking, I am not easily angered, I keep no record of wrongs. I do not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. I always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere.”
Marriage will challenge you. It isn’t for the faint hearted, the weak of character, or those who give up easily. The reason it isn’t easy? Anything of value requires character. Character requires growth. And growth requires maturity.
Ron and I pray you will experience the kind of love and depth of connection that we have grown together over the years.
Thought Bomb: What new thoughts can you imagine for your marriage today?
