A young couple marries and has kids. We'll call them Mark and Marie. The husband has Cystic Fibrosis, but Marie doesn't care. She marries him anyway - knowing that life expectancy has increased for people with Cystic Fibrosis, but also recognizing that life beyond 40 is NOT the norm. After a few years of marriage and kids, Mark may become one of the "lucky" ones as he receives a double lung transplant. Through the surgery and long recovery, Marie is there. She does things for him, takes care of him and constantly tells him she loves him. Even when complications arise, she doesn't lose hope. She encourages him, holds his hand and prays for him. And when the battles continue and Mark is in and out of the hospital with various infections and complications, Marie is there by his side. Including on the last day of his life. As always, Marie is there and is holding his hand. And Mark lies in the hospital bed, resigned to the fact he's not going to see his kids grow up or spend his 'golden years' with Marie. Mark looks at her, he squeezes her hand, he thanks her and then tells her how he remembers when they said "for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part" and how blessed he's been that they both meant it and kept their vows. Mark died that day.
Marie honored her vows and kept her commitment. Was it always pleasant or easy? No. Was it worth it? Without a doubt. Let's stop accepting lame excuses and impotent attempts at working on things and start honoring God and doing the holy work of building up our spouses and our marriages. It might be rough, might be messy, might be painful - it might not even turn out like you'd expect, but marriage needs to be 'honored by all' and we need to take to heart, Jesus' words when He reminded the Pharisees, "what God has joined together, let no man separate."
4 comments:
fred,Andy and I are in New Orleans right now on a mission trip. The guy that is our contact is 31. He has made it a habit of asking people who have been married 25 yrs or more what has made their marriage a success. And he doesn't want to hear 'the Lord' cuz that is a given... he is writing all the advice he gets so that it will help him whenever God brings him a wife... pretty cool.
I think people just forget that marriage takes work.
that things that are truly worthwhile often times aren't easy.
good post jason ;)
I think people expect a marriage to stay a honeymoon and they would rather give up than work on it.
I know the couple that you were writing about. They had a love and faith was so strong that nothing could shake it! They are a great family, and we will truly miss "Mark." Thanks for sharing their story!
Janina
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