It is still the best option we have
In this world of living together, sex with anyone, alternate lifestyles and even choosing singleness, I am convinced that marriage is still the best option and the highest probability of happiness and more importantly, joy.
I am a pastor, and in May of 2023 I conducted 2 weddings. They were number 54 and 55. That is a lot of weddings. That is over 500 hours of pre-marital counseling. That is a lot of wedding cake. A lot of tears. A lot of smiles. Secretly, a lot of worries.
Every couple I meet with is nervous. They are nervous about the unknown. They are fearful about the future. Who wouldn’t be? This world can look like a dumpster fire. Logically, what seems like it should be “up”, the media tells us is actually “down”.
Todays world is complex and frightening.
But I am encouraged. There is a movement among us that is quiet and unassuming but there is a movement nonetheless.
This movement is made up of young couples who know nothing, but they are willing to learn. They are babies in the sense that they are not scarred by the horrors of this world and they are not cynical to the institution of marriage. In fact, quite the opposite is true. They are looking at marriage AND they mean world they are walking into with steadfast, ignorant courage.
It’s their faith that makes the difference
As they look, unflinchingly into the deadly eyes of the future, they hold their gaze firm, knowing that they will face the future together. They know that their faith in God, their faith in their family and their faith in their community with help lead and guide them through the traps and snares of the unforgiving world.
And the thing that makes me most encouraged is the fact that the couples that I know and the ones that I get to perform their wedding, they are looking forward to being a guide to the next generation who need help.
They don’t seem to be self-centered as much as they want to be sacrificial to each other AND to the world.
Yes, they will have troubles. Yes, being naive will have its downfalls. Yes, the world will never give back equally to what you give to it. But these couples do not seem to care about that. They want to learn to work through struggles, they want to learn to grow up strong. They want to be helpful. They want to WORK.
IF there is anything that has really caused issues in the subject of marriage over the last 20-30 years it is this. “As long as you love each other, everything will just take care of itself.”
This eliminates the idea of hard work. A good marriage, like six-pack abs or being debt-free, requires hours, and days, and weeks, and months, and years of hard work that is invisible to the outside world.
And the couples I am spending time with want to do the hard work. We should all be encouraged.
