Mawwiage...

So I jotted down a few words a month or two ago, intending to make a blog post out of it, and never came back to it. I don't remember my exact thoughts, but here are some thoughts on the purpose of marriage.

K and I recently finished the Love & Respect marriage study, which, in my opinion, is one of the best studies out there. It gets to the heart of differences between men and women ("not wrong, just different") and details the inner workings of what drives men and women in a relationship to think, do, act, and react.

One point that really stuck to me is that marriage isn't about your spouse but about glorifying God by serving your spouse. The point of a union between two people isn't to make those two people happy, but to bring glory to the Father through faithful service to one another (the same can be true about relationships between believers; they will know Him by our love for one another). It's about being a picture of the marriage of the Lamb and His Church, demonstrating love and and service as though we are loving and serving Christ.

That's not to say that making your spouse happy isn't important. He has needs that you should be taking care of, but not at the expense of bringing glory to God. But the two serving together, meeting each other's needs in a Christ-like fashion, this will ultimately fulfill the purpose and sanctity of marriage.

I am by no means perfect and miss opportunities to bring joy to my husband. But he loves me anyway, and together we are working towards that picture of the Holy Marriage by the grace of God.