Marriage.
What do you think of when you hear it?
Broken? Old-fashioned? Irrelevant? Divorce? Unhappiness?
I have heard all of these, and more besides. And yet here I am at a retreat for students on an MA in Marriage & Family, and I hear something different.
Beautiful. Complete. Miraculous. Holy. Loving.
Grace-filled.
As we learn about sacrament, grace, natural family planning, the Theology of the Body, and marriage in Scripture, we learn a truth that changes our lives and the way we see marriage.
We appreciate that marriage is hard. Most of us on the course are married, and have experienced this firsthand. We know the disagreements, the times where the ‘feelings’ of love are just not there, the times where our pride takes over and marriage seems like a battlefield.
But we know that when we remain close to God, and when we let our commitment be what drives our marriage over feelings and pride, we find true peace and holiness. We are filled with grace, and we understand what it is to be a “helper suitable for each other”.
I wouldn’t even begin to pretend to be an expert on this topic, but studying Marriage & Family and living it out in my own marriage is turning my world upside-down, and I am beginning to understand the need for grace in the everyday, and the call to love that was inscribed in our bodies and souls at the moment of creation.
And sometimes that grace, that love, looks as simple as taking the bins out or scheduling a date night. The big moments come and go, but it is the grace in the everyday that keeps you going in the in between.
If there is one thing I have learned from my study, and my marriage, it is that.
So what about you? Do you find grace and the opportunities to love in the everyday? What are some of the little things your spouse has done today that have brought you grace? How have you showed grace to them?
Just as an extra note, I am currently reading the series “31 Days of Everyday Grace” over at Intentional By Grace. If you are interested, do click over and read through, it is a truly beautiful series, and has inspired me greatly this month!
