Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Holy Matrimony: It’s all Roses

This post is part of the Happy Wives Club Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with hundreds of inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE!  The Happy Wives Club has inspired me to start my first ever Blog Series, Holy Matrimony!  


Have you ever noticed all the negativity that surrounds marriages in our culture? When we got engaged, we were “warned” about marriage on every turn.  “Oh, you’re in love now, but wait until you get married.” “Yup, you’re in the honeymoon phase, wait til that ends! You’ll see.”  Even to this day people constantly tell me about the horrors of marriage after kids, or after this or that.  It’s enough to crush every little girl’s fairytale dreams of someday meeting prince charming and living happily ever after. Well, I’m here to proclaim, the dream is alive and well!! Fairytales do exist. Of course, you must remember that Prince Charming was a human, which means he wasn’t perfect.
 
I must say that I’m so blessed to have never experienced the negativity associated with marriage until I was an adult! I was raised by two happily married, loving parents.  Growing up in a loving home with them made me desire marriage VERY much!  I never thought they were perfect but I did think they were great and I knew they loved each other.  They were clearly best friends and I wanted that when I grew up beyond a shadow of a doubt. As far as I knew, marriage was a wonderful thing that everyone desired.  However, when I got to college, I started meeting girls that said things like, “Eh, I don’t plan on getting married.  Who needs that?” At first it was shocking but eventually it began to sink in that perhaps everyone didn’t have what my parents had and that made me sad. 

I never lost sight of what a lovely thing marriage is and was beyond excited when Josh proposed!! We had both heard enough marriage horror stories that we didn’t waste any time getting into premarital counseling.  As a matter of fact we went through premarital counseling at two different churches (his and mine) with 3 different people (can you tell I really believe in preparing). We were confident that we would “live happily ever after” but we never expected marriage to be all roses.
 
Now that we are 2 ½ years in and I reflect back, I’ve decided that… marriage is all roses! Roses make me so happy (as does marriage).  They are beautiful, fragrant, and the perfect addition to any centerpiece but they do have thorns! And boy do thorns hurt.  Everyone knows that but we don’t run and burn all the rose gardens in town because the roses have thorns.  NO! Of course not.  We learn how to deal with the thorns (hopefully by removal) so that we can enjoy the beauty of the roses.  That is how I see marriage.  It is absolutely wonderful but there will be some thorns.  All we have to do is learn how to deal with the thorns.

Fawn Weaver, the founder of the Happy Wives Club wrote a book about the best marriage secrets the world has to offer. They say the book is like “Eat, Pray, Love meets The 5 Love Languages.” I say the book is inspiring. You can grab a copy HERE.


 



11 comments:

  1. Hi Tiffany, sadly many people spread woes or warnings of marriage. I like your rose analogy though. I love the smell and look of roses and thorns makes me handle them with care. Found your blog via Michell's DYWW.

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    1. Great point Wanda. We must handle our marriages with care. :-)

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  2. Great blog! I've gotten several warnings all ready. More than well wishes. I always say "would you rather me date the same guy for years and years???" So thankful for encouragement like this!

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    1. Marriage is such a wonderful and special covenant, I wish people didnt make it seem so aweful! Just remember that happy is a choice. :-) CONGRATULATIONS again. :-)

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  3. I agree whole-heartedly with your account of what marriage can be like. I've been married for nearly 9 years, and we are still going strong. Two kids later, there have been hard times and lots of stress, but it's all worth it!! Nothing worth having is every easy. The rewards far outweigh the stress. Keeping God IN the marriage, talking about expectations and giving each other respect are so important. Your post is very encouraging, and I think it's wonderful that your parents were such a good example of the institution of marriage. XOXO

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    1. Thanks for your feedback and encouragment Meredith! I agree so much with your statements, especially "keeping God IN the marriage" so important!

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  4. Love your analogy of marriage to roses! Dealing with the thorns is a great way to think of dealing with the issues that may pop up in our marriages.

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  5. I love the way you look at marriage. I hope you have many many roses and very few thorns. Thank you for joining the Thumping Thursday bloghop.

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    1. Thanks Jill! And I love your bloghop. Thank you for hosting it!

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