HoW WELL do You kNoW Your SPouSE?
T he young man shifted nervously before me, uncertain if I would endorse his fiancé’s choice of him as a suitable candidate or not. As I study him, my mind is more on what it is about today’s youth that makes everything just have to happen in super quick time. I can’t understand his nervousness for even then, they had already proceeded to conclude their wedding, all family introductions in the bag. Instant is the new norm and patience as a virtue seems an ancient code. This just happens to be one of five weddings in quick succession, of wards I cherish as spiritual children, all of whom want my blessing but have still gone ahead to either carry out their introductions or even tied the knot at the registry before I can as much as blink.
The challenges for every marriage is real and no one can guarantee which will all last till the end. Long courtship doesn’t translate to a successful marriage nor does no courtship doom one either. But of a certainty, no marriage will ever succeed without love and sacrifice. And so it was that one of the five now sits in my living room, eyes fixed to the floor and her posture tense. Her marriage to one she barely knew was concluded so quickly even I am stunned and we are left with finding words of encouragement to prepare her for what lies ahead. Marriage without love is hell and love without sacrifice is nonexistent, we counsel her. Where they go from here on is really up to them.
God, in instituting marriage, took woman from the rib of man, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. A marriage made in heaven and no courtship required yet even that perfect pairing landed into crisis. Barred from paradise, they lost their home, the firstborn murders his brother, becoming a fugitive while husband and wife must find solace in each other to restart a broken family and not lose their faith in God. While a healthy, open courtship may help discover certain things about each other, a rapid fire marriage ensures you only make your discoveries, like them or not, when the doors have been shut. The future of our marriages are being written today, instant it now is and only time will tell how durable that will prove to be.
Are you prepared to make the necessary sacrifices?
God bless you and guide your steps today.