Well, I couldn't have said it better myself.
It's what I thought as I left the nursing home last night.
The notice on the door didn't help----I can't remember the wording, but it was a warning that
there are quite a few residents who are down with the flu, and the main thought was, "Enter at your own risk!"
Well, marriage is a little like that, isn't it? Enter at your own risk? Who knows what you're going to encounter?!
I had just been down for a week with the flu myself, so I was cautious----I actually requested that Stu meet me at the door so I could take him across to NewSong church for the Wednesday bible study.
Bible study was warm and thought provoking----Stu has gotten much more relaxed over the past few months, and actually had questions to ask, and a few observations. The group is welcoming and kind, and Wednesdays are a bright spot in the week for us.
But as I walked back across the parking lot with Stu in his wheelchair, I had to decide whether or not to enter that building, with all its risks. Somehow, it was better to go all the way in, walk down the corridor with him, navigate the turn into his room, watch as the caregivers hooked up the sling under him and hoyered him out of the wheelchair and back into his bed.
Not exactly a Hallmark moment.
Or is it?
Before I left, Stu said he had made a valentine for me
Stu (not sure about the numbers at the end----I'll have to ask him what he was thinking)
What strikes me in this little episode is what has become evident as the theme of our particular marriage-----it's such an unfathomable mix of devotion, separation, despair, joy, slogging, soaring. The main thing is, despite our personal failings, we are still a couple. That is only by God's grace-----I am quite convinced that there is no program or checklist that guarantees the survival of a marriage. I count among my dearest friends people whose marriages did not survive. I have no trouble understanding-----it is a pure miracle, in my opinion, when two people can somehow agree that "Marriage is hard. Stay married anyway"
My prayer this Valentine's Day evening is that the grace of God, which passes all understanding, fills your heart and strengthens you to withstand whatever challenge you face. Whatever risky corridor looms in your life, may you know the One who walks before, beside, and behind you, hemming you in with LOVE.
Until next time!
Sue
Marriage is hard. Stay married anyway. If we stay married, more often than not, some of the hard things become blessings.
ReplyDeleteIf you are going to stay married anyway, you might as well work some things out. Then what was hard, when resolved, becomes a blessing, a reward for staying together.