On March 18th we celebrated our 52nd anniversary. And to that we say, YAY GOD!!! He deserves all the glory! We wouldn’t be celebrating if it wasn’t for His mercy, grace, and guidance.
It is because of Him that the celebrating continues to this day. We said, “I do” all those years ago; and we still say, “I do” to this day, and every day we’re gifted with.
We’re happily celebrating a life lived well together. It has been and IS quite a journey. And prayerfully, if the Lord allows, we will have many more years together, to live and especially, to love.
The Celebrating Continues
As Steve and I look back and reflect, we sure have learned A LOT! One of the biggest things we’ve learned is to become students of each other, and students of marriage lived out God’s way, rather than our pre-conceived ideas of what marriage should look like (which almost led us to divorce.)
And yet, even though we have learned A LOT, we still don’t have a “perfect” marriage. (Actually, I’m not sure what “perfect” can look like when two sinners get together.) But I can tell you that we’ve lived our lives well. It’s not just what you’ve lived through, but what you’ve learned through that’s important. And we’ve learned through A LOT!
With that said, Steve and I decided to share with you a few things we’ve learned. We’re hoping you will find them helpful. Steve says, “ladies first” so here goes.
In the article, How to Enjoy a Lifelong Love Affair with Your Spouse, Whitney Hopler gave 2 excellent points (among many), which summarize what we’ve learned and apply to our own marriage. One of them is:
Move beyond the small story to the greater story.
Recognize that your marriage is about much more than just the small story of you and your spouse sharing your lives together. It’s about a much larger story of the great work God wants to do through both of you in your marriage. Your marriage is a covenantal relationship. It’s one that can show everyone who knows you what God’s love looks like in action.
When Steve and I realized this important point about marriage, our whole relationship and how we treated each other began to change, in a positive way. This thing called marriage is not so much about us. It’s about God and HIS story. This is God’s story that He wants to write through us in how we live our lives together. We are to be “imitators of God, as beloved children and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.” (Ephesians 5:1) That is our continual goal. May we never forget that!
Here’s another point that Whitney makes, which God showed us, as well, and our marriage has never been the same (in a WONDERFUL yet challenging way):
Pursue God’s dream for your marriage.
God’s great dream for your marriage is for it to reflect you and your spouse’s relationships with Jesus. He wants you to show the people around you how true love and commitment should work. When it does so, your marriage will have great power to inspire people. And it will draw them closer to God. So view your marriage from God’s perspective: as a gift that can bless not just you and your spouse, but others as well.
Again, this is a continual goal and prayer for Steve and me. We pray our lives will reflect and reveal the heart of Christ in all we do, especially in our marriage.
It’s also one of the reasons why Marriage Missions came into being. It is to share God’s “greater story” with others, concerning marriage. And it is to “inspire people and draw them closer to God.” It’s our prayer that as others see us, they see Christ and want to know our God better.
Some See It Differently
Yes, we know, there are some who respond the opposite way. (We get their emails and comments; some of them are very vile.) But that was and is true for Christ and how people receive what He has said to them. So, we try not to take it personally. We’re in GREAT company! But the over-whelming majority of responses are so positive. God is working through ordinary people in ways that we can only stand back and say, “that is truly AMAZING!!!” Thank you, Lord!
Here’s what Steve wants to share with you, concerning what he has learned about marriage.
STEVE:
The greatest lesson I’ve learned in our marriage is that marriage is for “grownups.” I know that should be obvious, but it was not for me; and it isn’t for a lot of people. For many years of our married life together I acted like an adolescent. I was a selfish, self-centered, “marriage is all about ME” husband. It’s not that I never “gave” in our marriage. But I was definitely more interested in what I could “get” from the relationship.
Now, I can’t tell you the day that I had an epiphany. But I eventually woke up to see that I hadn’t been showing love to Cindy “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” That is God’s mandate to husbands; and I forgot that. After waking up to my sin, I asked God to show me how to give love to Cindy as “Christ loved the church.” Thankfully, He began to reveal to me different ways I could demonstrate or “be Jesus” to her. It has been a very fulfilling journey.
Celebrating Continues as God Teaches How to Love
Over the course of time, I began to really cherish Cindy as my wife, partner, best friend and lover. I thank God multiple times every day that she is my wife. She is the woman He wants me to love as He does. It is also my goal to “super-serve” her every day. In other words, I want to make our marriage more about giving than getting.
I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that I had that awakening. Our marriage is now so full and rich! I am also thankful that I obeyed God’s call on my life as her husband. If I hadn’t, I would have missed His “best” for me (and for us) in our marriage. Husbands, I pray you get to this point in your marriage too!
Oh, and if you want some good tips for celebrating your anniversary, below is a fun article we recommend you read. Scott Kedersha gives some great tips so the celebrating continues in your marriage, as well. We encourage you to pray, read, glean, and see what you can adapt for your marriage:
• 30 UNIQUE WAYS TO CELEBRATE YOUR ANNIVERSARY
That’s what we did. And it was fun and so meaningful!
In Closing
One of our friends sent us a very meaningful anniversary card and in it, the following scripture was highlighted. It’s SO appropriate as we celebrate our marriage:
“Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
To that we say, Yes Lord! May we never forget! And may you always remember this, as well.
So, as we go off celebrating into the week and loving each other all the more, the following comes to mind:
“I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:6)
Yes, He has been good to us, so very, very good —through tough times and the fun ones.
We pray that will be your experience in your marriage as you lean into the Lord and closer to each other. May the celebration continue!
Cindy and Steve Wright
— ADDITIONALLY —
To help you further, we give a lot of personal stories, humor, and more practical tips in our book, 7 ESSENTIALS to Grow Your Marriage. We hope you will pick up a copy for yourself. (It’s available both electronically and in print form.) Plus, it can make a great gift for someone else. It gives you the opportunity to help them grow their marriage. And who doesn’t need that? Just click on the linked title or the picture below:
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