A husband once said,

“Can I get a different kind of damaged wife?

This relationship is too hard! Can I get an easier assignment? This one is above my pay grade.”

We both laughed.

I’m sure every husband (and wife) has had that thought at least once in their married lifetime.

Why is marriage so wonderful and so difficult?

Every one of us picked up some bad emotional programming in our youth. And, that childhood thinking still lives within each of us. Emotional growth means learning to interact in healthier emotional ways.

The struggle is- letting go of an old, familiar program is extremely difficult. We’ve thought and acted the same all our lives.

Marriage feels like this.

Say, “I Do!”……Honeymoon…….Then hear, “You need to change!”

Insight

-God is using your spouse to grow you.

-Two lives becoming one is slow, hard work.

-Marriage is your refinement assignment.

-This work can be the hardest, most satisfying work you will ever do.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.

John 15:12-14 (NASB)

You are called to lay down your life for your friend. (To include laying down your fit-throwing-boy-program in search of adult-oneness)

Prayer

Father, help me live insightful, determined and growing, alongside my very slow-changing spouse. Amen