Marriage Is a Commitment

This past August, my wife and I celebrated our 58th Wedding Anniversary. Two weeks ago today, she had a total knee replacement surgery. Today, she is doing well while experiencing the normal aches and discomfort that goes along with the surgery. She is surviving well the care and food prep provided by me. Understand that this is not a brag about my caregiving, but rather what I want to convey in this article is that marriage is a commitment that requires the full 100% effort on the part of both the husband and wife.

This is not our first rodeo of giving care to one another. Both of us have had several surgeries during our 58 years of marriage. We have both experience the grief and loss of each of our parents. We have had times of trying to make salaries stretch and times of enjoying a filet mignon. We have lived in seven different cities and two states in the course of our marriage. And we have been blessed with two children, their spouses, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Marriage is not intended as a brief relationship that can be ended on the most trivial and selfish of reasons. Rather, marriage is a commitment that was made to be for a lifetime. The vows we repeat in a wedding ceremony give emphasis to the depth of that commitment:

"For better or worse, in richer or poorer, in sickness and in health,

as long as we both shall live."

We said "I Do" in response to affirming a commitment to the person to whom we also said "I love you." Marriage is filled with joy, excitement, adventure, and challenges, but in all things we are committed to supporting and caring for each other. The Bible speaks of marriage in terms of two people becoming one flesh. The longer two people are married, the more that statement becomes true in terms of thoughts, hopes, dreams, plans, words, and values.

But for a commitment to grow stronger as time moves forward, there must be a willingness to fulfill that commitment regardless of the circumstances. My encouragement today to all who are married and to those who are planning to marry, please remember and apply these final thoughts within your marriage.

• Regardless of the circumstances, support your spouse through it all.

• Be as grateful for being privileged to be the care giver as you are grateful to receive the care when you are the patient.

• Love your spouse more today than you did when you married.

• Give thanks to God for the person He brought you to in marriage.

• Be the person God intends you to be in relationship to your spouse.

I am thankful that we say "I love you" every day; that we still say "Thank you" and "Your Welcome" to each other; and that God gives us the privilege to care for one another, not just in times of illness or surgeries, but every day.

Marriage is a commitment. Live in the blessing of keeping that commitment that you made in the past, carrying it out in the present, and affirming the continuation of that commitment into the future.