Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Marriage: Bottom Line!


The best part about being married is home-cooked meals, someone to pick up after you, and sex and time you want it! The best part about being a Christian is that God forgives me for telling such lies. I love home-cooked meals, but as empty-nesters, and having a wife who works harder than I do most day, I enjoy taking here out to eat 2 or 3 times a week. I don't need anyone to pick up after me because, as my kids will tell you, I'm a compulsive picker-upper and clean-freak on my own. And as for sex any time I want it, it's not anymore "all" my call than it is for any husband. The truth about marriage is older than the Word of God because marriage was around a lot longer than the written word. It's not any more a secret for us than it was for Adam and Eve. Just as true love (agape) is more a choice than a feeling, the key to a successful life-long relationship involves one of the most important choices of our lives. All the marriage films, seminars, and counseling sessions you will ever participate in will bring you back to the same foundational principle. I wrote this down on a little 3M sticker and stuck it in front of my computer several weeks ago. I'm looking at it "Yea verily" right now. It states "The single most important element in marriage is thoughtfulness." All relationships grow or fail based on our ability to think and appreciate the other person more than we do ourselves. People don't have financial, communication, and sexual problems from being thoughtful. Relationship problems come from pride and selfishness, which is really a redundancy if you think about it. Thoughtfulness; it's the part of relationship building that looks the most like Jesus. I wish there was space to elaborate, but I'll close with this thought. Not only is thoughtfulness the most important element in marriage, it's the key to our relationship with God. Think about it!

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