I Do

I’ve spent most of the day in the car, as my family decided to take a long-weekend vacation to our house in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. While on the road, we drove past a billboard with a picture of a man’s face, a phone number and the tagline “DIVORCE $475.”

So easy. How sad.

With just less than five Benjamins, a phone call and two signatures, a bond God intended to be everlasting is broken.

Now, I understand that when it comes to this subject, I have no qualifications. But, I will say that I have grown up in a family that stresses the value and sanctity of marriage. Us three kids all came after my parents were married, which in itself is an accomplishment considering today’s sex-crazed society. It is also my honor to announce that my parents will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary later this month.

They have had more than their fair share of arguments, disagreements and frustrations, but they have pushed through. They are happy and, if I do say so myself, they make two pretty amazing parents.

I know if you ask them, they will tell you that they aren’t “hot” like they used to be. Time has taken its toll on both of them (and I’m sure we’ve added a few grey hairs…). Mom has more wrinkles and Dad’s gotten fatter, but they are still crazy about each other. Now that I’m older and don’t get all creeped out when they kiss, I love watching them express their affections.

But what is even more inspiring than the fact that they’ve kept their marriage for so long is how they’ve done it. They understand that the only way they can grow closer to one another is by growing closer to God. For you visual people, I’ve drawn a diagram. :)



A quick Google search revealed that 40-50% of first marriages in America end in divorce.

Today people neglect principles of love, compromise a promise and depend on happiness for marital success.

We’ve come to the point where when the going gets tough, we quit.

I can’t write this blog without referencing 1 Corinthians 13. I know it’s on the “longer” side, but the reading is worth it:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I think one of the big problems is that we get so caught up in the idea that we will fall in love when we “find” the right person. I’ve heard many sermons that talk about the flaws with this philosophy. Instead, we need to focus on becoming the right person. Think about it.

Infatuation fails, love does not. A marriage will work when the love between husband and wife is rooted in God’s love. The world has misconstrued what love means, but God’s word reminds us that it is an outward expression of His inner dwelling.

Marriage is a gift from God. It is a sacred union, a holy bond and a blessing that can last forever.

Do you believe it?

“I do.”

-Rachel