Thoughts on my marriage

My little boy is sick today, so I'm at home with him. I had a couple of minutes to write down some thoughts...

Since this past week was Valentine's Day, I was thinking about some of the reasons that Mark and I have a good marriage. I shared these at the Couple's Banquet on Friday night, and I'd like to share them with you.

1. We have created our own Mutual Admiration Society. I admire him and he admires me. I am always touched when he says "You're the best Christian I know." He lives with me, so he knows very well my imperfections...One of the reasons I was attracted to Mark when I was a teenager is because he wanted to make a difference in the world. Instead of driving a nice car or spending his money freely, he saved his funds and went on missions trips. He visited developing areas of the world or places where Christians were persecuted. In the last 21 years, I've seen Mark grow as a person and as a Christian. Mark is the most forgiving person that I know. Even in the last four years since we have been at Hillcrest, I have seen him over and over display the attitude of Christ. I try to DO what is right, but sometimes really feeling that way is tough for me. I respect him a lot and am blessed to be married to him.

2. There have been times that we have been more committed to God and to the institution of marriage than we have to each other. During the most challenging time of our marriage, I was depressed, was dealing with the disappointment of not having children, and probably experiencing hormone imbalance from multiple miscarriages, etc. One of the things that I held on to was God's Word, especially Psalms 15: " Lord who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous...who keeps his oath even when it hurts..." (emphasis mine) Mark and I knew that our covenant was to God, not just to each other. It helped us to hang on until things got better and easier.

3. We are no longer trying to change each other. I know that Mark wishes I wouldn't run my life so closely to my daytimer. (When my little girl was about 4, she once called it my Bible and I took that seriously...) I wish that he would arrive at the airport earlier and he is doing better, for my sake. We are striving to love and accept each other, and as I result, our marriage is better now than it has ever been.

My little boy has asked me several times to read him a book, so I'll go...