Marriage.

I stumbled upon something today and it inspired me to write. It is a sermon given at a wedding; and it describes the purpose of marriage so perfectly.

"In your vows, you’re not saying one thing: better; richer; health. You’re saying two things: better or worse; richer or poorer; health or sickness.
 May God give you the strength and the love to keep these promises at those times when you don’t want to, and it seems like it would be easier to break them. Make no mistake marriage is not always easy. However, marriage has many joys! 
    Marriage is:
        Companionship in all of life’s paths
        Shared goals for happiness, family
        Unconditional support in good times and bad
        Knowing that two can do more than one
        Having someone to encourage you in the valleys of life
        Writing a story for your friends to read
As we close, I want to briefly look at why God designed marriage like He did:

   It is because he is so interested in YOU knowing how much He loves you that He was not content about being a big ‘ol invisible, intangible God out there in the universe that you only experience when you see a cool cloud arrangement in the sky with the sun shining through it…
        The best way to describe it is this… Michael, He wants Carmen to know His physical, tangible, in-her-presence love so much that he is putting you in her life as an instrument, a channel, to reflect it…to lay your life down for her whether you think she deserves it or not because that is what Christ did for her…that’s how much He loves Carmen. Carmen, He wants Michael to know His physical, tangible, in-his-presence love so much that he is putting you in his life as an instrument, a channel, to reflect it…because that is what Christ did for him…that’s how much He loves Michael.
    That is a huge responsibility. But wouldn't you want to be the recipient off that love?! That is the ideal and the target for marriage. This concept changes everything because it’s not about you…it’s about the love that God has for you both.
    As followers of Christ you need conduct your marriage in the shadow of a cross, with the knowledge that He died for us. And if you truly want to say thank you to Him, then He wants you to go home and channel all that gratitude in the eye and heart of each other."

 I love the way that God's design for marriage is described in this. Derek and I have talked about this many times. We've been married a little over a year, and though that is a very short time in the grand scheme of life, I feel like we have learned so much about marriage and God in the past year. I firmly believe that the sole purpose of our relationships on Earth are to be mirrors of our relationship with Him. When I sit back and let the love that I have for Derek wash over me, it is overwhelmingly strong, powerful, beautiful-it's beyond anything I could have ever dreamed for myself. And I am reminded that as strongly and purely as I love Derek, our Yahweh loves us more. Our marriage gives us a window into His heart. We couldn't possibly fathom all of His love, but through our marriage, we are able to glimpse the perfectness of Him. As said above, we are channels to reflect His love for us. I think that's how you make a marriage work-remember those things. When rough patches sneak up, when there doesn't seem to be an up side, remember that God is there, working front and center in your marriage. He is tangible because He IS the love that you share.