Continuation of "A Legendary Marriage" -
All real marriages are made up of a mixture of what makes us human and what makes us divine. The triumph AND the tragedy. The poison, the disappointment, the occasional castration, the lie, an unaccounted for body or two, and just simple day to day life struggle. On the other hand though is the joy of creating new life, the shared laughter, the dream chasing, the passioned moments, and all the promise of a future untold.
Many examples of marriages in God’s word show us both sides to the story as well. There is no covering up the dirt, it’s there for you to see. Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebekkah, Jacob & Rachel, and the list goes on. The sad thing about the Disney type fairy tales we dream of as young girls, or the adventures we imagine taking as young boys… is that the story never continues after “The End”, when the end of the book, is always the beginning of the true story.
I don’t know what your marriage looks like on a daily, or weekly basis… but mine often looks less legendary, and more lethargic. Less romantic, more rheumatic. We have always understood though, that the pages of our love story, have to keep turning. New chapters unfold. We don’t want it to be a short story, but a novel, a real body of work. So, we keep giving the writer material to work with. All love stories are a strange mix of tragedy, romance, mystery, adventure, drama, and for some of us, a little Science Fiction. I would like to share a few excerpts from our story with you…
For those of you who don’t know anything about me. My husband Brian and I have been married for 25 years and we have three boys. We are almost at that stage where it is just the two of us again, just one teenager left at home. We are a mouthy pair, the two of us… and we’ve created a mouthy group. Yep, we are just one loud, mouthy family. But if there is one rule that we have employed over the years in our marriage, it is this. We don’t go to bed angry… no, we stay up and fight! Yes. We are a “passionate” couple. Time has worn the edges off that, but we have experienced some truly legendary squabbles. We also enjoy just debating stupid issues… and as my gift to my husband, I would like to state now, for everyone to see, that he really is right, quite often. (he loves to hear that…) And the Legend continues.
We, like many couples, are almost complete opposites of one another, and we have different ideas of how to do things. This gap has narrowed over the years, but, every day we have to adjust to those little quirks that drive us nuts about each other. For instance, apparently, I swallow too loud. Brian, lines up his paperclips and stacks his rubber bands in a circle at the office, I like to move some every now and then just to send him reeling. I crack my eggs and put the shells back in the carton… not in the trash. Don’t judge me. Brian is like all men and can never seem to find anything in the fridge. By the way women, I don’t get how that hunter-gatherer instinct thing is working when men can’t find the margarine behind the milk carton. Maybe they are employing that whole, “becoming one with their environment” technique when they stand with the fridge door open, just staring into it, not moving. Are they hoping it will draw the margarine out of hiding?
Back to me. My husband has a small problem with my habit of hitting things that don’t move with my car…such as fire hydrants, signs, poles, mailboxes, his parked truck, my son’s parked car, or driving up on landscape boulders in the mall parking lot. Then there are times when I am so angry with my husband that if we were in Jurassic Park, and there was a dinosaur chasing our Jeep, I would kick him out….Don’t judge me!… and the Legend continues.
Herein lies the beauty. Each story is made up of twists and turns, and surprises… Just when you think you know where the story is leading…you turn the page.
When I am watching football with Brian and I agree with him that the ref made a terrible call, or when I help remind all our friends that BSU is over-rated (That was my 2nd gift, honey)…the legend continues.
When I’ve felt a rush of pride and joy watching him play endlessly and tirelessly with our boys over the years… the legend continued.
When he looked through his rearview mirror on that highway all those years ago, and saw the car I was driving flip and roll, and roll…with his baby boy inside as well…the Legend continued.
When I watched him lie helplessly in a hospital bed because his broken neck had him immobile and in so much pain that the tears ran down his face…the Legend continued.
When he got the call that his beloved mother had cancer, for the third time, and I was there to share the burden of my Braveheart’s despair… the legend continued.
When I tried to distance him with hurtful words, and he instead chose to call on his inner knight to fight for the beauty that he knew was inside me… the Legend continued.
And woven throughout is the miracle of these moments, when everything else falls away, and you discover again those same feelings, reborn again and again in a thousand different ways, that have always been there between the two of you, underneath, around and through it all….it is the unexplainable Legend.
You see… we just have to keep turning the pages. We have a God who knew what he was doing when he placed the Hero and Heroine in your story. It was no accident. God writes the love stories. We have to trust that what He is creating, is more beautiful than it is from our viewpoint within the sentence we are living at the moment, with all it’s question marks and exclamation points...Because your marriage, and mine, will be a blessing. I thank you for your marriages. Whether or not you feel like they inspire. Whether or not you feel as though yours is a great romance… thank you for your marriage. Your story is unique, and creative, full of real life struggle and pain, real life victories and celebration. It is miraculous and mysterious because it speaks of
the impossible. It’s a real page turner!
Our love stories speak of a loyalty and devotion that surpass the ability of mankind to do things on his own. They mirror a divine covenant with a Holy God. Our love stories illustrate that re-creation, renewal, and redemption are possible within the bounds of human relationships, because it is possible with our creator. This is all for the glory of God. For,THIS is what dreams are made of…. THIS is Legend.
Renee ~ I especially love these:
ReplyDelete"the end of the book, is always the beginning of the true story."
"We have to trust that what He is creating, is more beautiful than it is from our viewpoint within the sentence we are living at the moment."
We as people, and especially as women, tend to want our love story to stay inside the original book, don't we? Inside that unrealistic but romantic place. But the new book, with its happy, sad, painful pages is the real and lasting story. And God is the only one who can see the beginning and the end. I love this! You are amazing.