The Wisdom of Marriage

"Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her;"Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all."

We aren't promised tomorrow. It's a discontenting thought, but a true one. Knowing that makes me want to live each day to its fullest. And, even if we were to somehow know that we have 20, 30, or 70 years left to our life, it is still important to grab as much joy out of every day that we can. We're not here that long, so why not make a difference while we are?

I've come to realize that life is a journey. We choose our paths, walk them, and change direction from time to time, but the funny thing is that our paths always lead us back to home. And, from my experience, home is where my family is. Zig Ziglar once said, "If you can dream it then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you can help enough other people get what they want." I've discovered that his statement is true. I found it to be true with my friends, with coworkers, with past clients, and, more importantly, with my family.

When I was a young girl I always dreamed of finding and marrying my prince charming. I had stars in my eyes and wanted the "perfect" man. I thought I found him, but shortly after I made my vows I discovered that my new husband was not perfect. He had several flaws, in fact. Surely this was not my prince charming lying on the couch, getting popcorn everywhere. No, *my* prince charming would be helping me get the house clean for the guests that would be here in 3 hours.

I wanted a refund.

Then, one day a thought occurred to me. No man on this earth is perfect, except one. That one exception is the one and only prince charming, Jesus. There is no other. Would this mean that all we women should give up on romance altogether then? No way! There's an interesting twist to the story.

Scripture says that we are all made in God's image, and that we all have an inner understanding of Him. In essence, we are a reflection of our Father. Think of the moon. The moon appears to be glowing because it reflects the light of the sun. The closer the moon is to the sun, the brighter it is. We're like that too. The closer we are to our Father, the more of His light we reflect. And, when we are reflecting more light, then the people and situations around us begin to reflect that light.

What I am saying is that if we turn our eyes from our husband's flaws and faults, and turn them onto our Father in heaven, then we not only will we glow with the Father's amazing attributes, but so will our husbands, thereby turning us into "daughters of glory" and our husbands into "prince charmings." What a wonderful concept!!

Please don't think that I live in a fairytale romance with castles and white horses. My life is far from that. There are days when I still think my husband has lost his mind sometimes, and, admittedly, I've wondered about my own sanity from time to time too. What I have found is a peace, and a stability that as long as I am growing closer to my Father, then I am pulling my husband with me, and we walk through life's journey together. When I show my husband the love of Christ, then I get that love back... maybe not right then, but I do get it back.