Marriage Week

I couldn’t imagine being in such an intimate relationship with someone and thinking that they may not want to be with me if we didn’t bring someone else into our family.

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Reference:  v.11  In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. (NIV Bible)

Explore:  The other day I was listening to our local Christian radio station.  They had a focus on Marriage Week and invited numerous guests in to speak about Marriage and how we can improve the relationships we’re in.  During one segment they spoke about the percentage of people (which, from memory was about 47%, but I could have misheard) who thought their marriage would not stay together if they did not have children.  I was quite blown away by this idea.  My husband and I have been married for seven and a half years and while we have a 16 year old foster daughter we do not have natural children of our own.  I couldn’t imagine being in such an intimate relationship with someone and thinking that they may not want to be with me if we didn’t bring someone else into our family.  As I continued to think about this concept the next day I realised how lucky I was to be in a relationship where we valued and loved each other for who we were and not what we could provide for the other.  It also made me realise that there were many people who were living in a marriage relationship that did not share in this joy.  Now, I’m not saying that Cam and I don’t disagree or go through difficult times, but I know for sure that Cam would still love me and desire to be married to me, even if we didn’t have children.

Application:  Our marriages are very important parts of our lives.  Our partners have a huge impact on who we are and what we do.  When our jobs get too busy or a crisis hits our family it is easy to let our marriage relationship slide.  We can quickly become complacent and not work at making our marriages the best that they can be.  And yet, if we live in a relationship that lacks trust, support and love, it flows over in to the rest of our lives.  It is a crazy misconception that once you walk down the aisle the rest of your love life is going to be easy.  If we desire to have positive healthy relationships then we have to continue to work on them each and every day.

Prayer:  Lord, we exist within many different relationships.  May I be loving and faithful to the people that you have placed in my life.  Amen.

What can you do today to show your love and support for someone you are in relationship with?

1 Timothy