Fourteen Years Blessed

Erik and I are alone at the cabin celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary.  We have spent the day reminiscing about that day, going through all the moments, funny and poignant, difficult and delightful.  No wedding day is perfect, or at least it shouldn't be.  

I love that our wedding day had a few flaws.  It rained and our reception had to be moved indoors at the last moment.  We both just rolled with it.  How like real life marriage was that?  I see these elaborate weddings where the bride (and sometimes the groom) are so very focused on every little aesthetic detail, sometimes to the detriment of their actual relationship.  A wedding should have a few mess-ups, people.  It will help everyone remember the realities of marriage.  It is not a Happily Ever After venture, folks.  Yes, there are amazingly awesome moments to come.  But there are also heartbreaks and disappointments on the horizon.  

What will the Happily Ever After couple do when they face medication trials for uncontrolled seizures and a spouse who has to surrender their license because of those seizures?  In sickness and in health.  Or what about under-employment and the prospect of losing the first house they bought together?  For better or for worse.  As we have faced these and other situations during our marriage, it has not felt like a fairy tale.  There have been definite nightmarish moments.  I know that if we had not been looking to Jesus Christ, focused on Him and trusting Him, one or both of us might have quit.  But that's not what we said fourteen years ago.  Our promises were not just to each other.  They were to the Living God, Yahweh, the creator of the universe and the lover of our souls.  We made a covenant with Him and with each other.  We will stay.  We will love sacrificially so that we see Christ clearer and are able to show others the reality of His love.

We did not actually understand all of this when we said those words, folks.  And I actually don't think we comprehend our vows completely yet.  I know there is more growth, more joy, and yes, more pain to come.  We are simply blessed to be united in our journey.  Our marriage is like our wedding day, imperfect, yet desiring to point to Jesus Christ, our Savior and our God.