Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Reading

It has been a bit more difficult to get any reading in since 11/9/07...but I am trying. I'm slowly working my way through some unread books that have been sitting on my nightstand. Most recently, I have been reading Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas (with whom I loved even more after he posted a comment on this post on Jody's blog). A couple thoughts that hit home tonight...

"A good marriage is not something you find, it's something you work for." - The fact that we have to work hard at our marriages is nothing to hide. If you aren't working hard at it, then I think something is wrong. Marriage isn't easy. A perfect one doesn't just fall in to our laps and we live happily ever after. It's work. And it's totally worth it.

"A spiritually alive marriage will remain a marriage of two individuals in pursuit of a common vision outside themselves." -Loving the idea that we are still two individuals here in this marriage. We don't both have the exact same passions. We both have our own desires and our own unique goals. But we are working hard and pursuing a vision OUTSIDE of ourselves...outside of just our dreams of a perfect little easy life. I love to think about how our 2 individual personalities will collide to reach out beyond ourselves and our own personal happiness. Because as Gary Thomas states, "marriage was not created to make you happy, but to make you holy."

Off to continue working my way through this stack of books...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I venture to say, our marriage of 38 years has been no picnic most times BUT after I got back on track in my faith, things started to happen. Nothing fast and profoundly perhaps, but made things better and our expectations easier and a closer life together on a better path. Only with God can we have a better marriage, with hard work and sacrifice, He will give birth to a good marriage. Praise be!! I am in need of constant reminding to keep up the work and I am for the most part, content. And finally, it is for sure, so worth it!!!! :- ) Against all odds, we have made it. And I might add, I do get my toes painted regularly now.... mostly because I can't see well enough to do them myself! :- )