and they lived happily every after?

The glass slipper fits and Cinderella marries Prince Charming. True Love’s Kiss breaks an evil witch’s spell and Sleeping Beauty marries Prince Phillip. Belle’s love for the Beast breaks the curse and they get married. And the one thing they all share is that after the wedding they lived happily ever after.

This weekend we visited Nashville to watch one of our very favorite couples take a vow in which they promised to love God and each other forever. It was beautiful and joyful and so much fun!!! On this trip we also visited with some dear friends who shared with us the heartbreak and beauty they’ve found through their first year of marriage. So, needless to say I’ve got marriage on my mind. Somehow so many of us walk into marriage thinking that if we really love each other we will make a vow and enter into a never ending honeymoon in which we live happily ever after….

If you are already married it is not a surprise to you that marriage is hard. A few weeks ago over coffee I told someone that marriage was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. She responded “what is so hard about it?” (this was my thought exactly before entering into marriage myself). I explained that no matter how wonderful your spouse is or how much you love them, marriage means you have to give up selfishness, and that is hard. As my friend tearfully explained this weekend; marriage is living out the gospel every day and is the greatest way that God works out his salvation in us.

He uses the joys and the difficulties of marriage to make us more like Him and to display to others the indescribable love he has for us.

I think I would like to write a fairy tale. It would end with “They lived committed to one another ever after. Some days they were ridiculously happy, some days they fought, some days they cried, some days they laughed together but every day they chose to love each other… and it was awesome.”