I like it when the bride has something she wants that's special to her. My sister-in-law wanted "Linus and Lucy". That was a fun wedding, in no small part because it was in Punta Cana. Seriously, fly me to Punta Cana for your wedding and I'll play anything you want. No worries.
I know no one has asked and likely never will, but here's some unsolicited advice for marriage. It comes straight from 1 Corinthians 13. Most likely you're familiar with it, but it has served my marriage well for almost 11 years.
Be patient with each other. Be kind to each other. Don't be jealous or boastful. Don't be proud, rude or selfish. Don't carry anger and resentment with you. Always be honest with each other and not deceptive in any way. Always protect each other. Always trust each other. Always hope and always persevere. This never fails.
No, I haven't done all of these things perfectly. By nature I'm a very proud person. I'm also pretty rude at times. In fact, I can be a real jerk. I'm also, and I hate to admit this, a jealous person and I'm especially good at holding on to anger and resentment. This never serves me well. In fact, any deviation from the above ideal just brings suffering in my life and in my marriage.
If two people in a relationship can commit to trying to love each other the way Paul describes here I don't think there's anything that can separate them. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13 (TNIV) -
1 If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
No comments:
Post a Comment