Author’s note: Please keep in mind that this reflects a very specific, Christian world-view from a very specific, Southern American perspective. Also, again, this is not a personal judgment on your marriage, life, religious choices, etc.
I’ve been reflecting on Marriage quite a bit these days. It seems like everyone I know has an opinion. Either people are crazy nuts to get married young or people are going to be sad and lonely their entire lives if they’re not hitched by 20. People in my circle are marrying, having babies, settling in. Settling down, some people call it.
Of course, there are the enthusiastic supporters of marriage. And then there are those who say I’m crazy to desire to get married. “What?! You’re SO YOUNG. You have the REST OF YOUR LIFE AHEAD OF YOU. Don’t RUSH.” Okay, got it. You think life is over when marriage begins. I heartily disagree, but that’s a post for another time.
I was reading the blog of a friend of mine, and he wrote this entry, specifically regarding the marriage of non-Christians:
It’s plagiarism, to be honest here. Marriage was created by God. That’s why we have it. It’s a gift to explain a covenant He made with us. You disrespect that when you give no credit to whom credit is due.
That is possibly the coolest thing I have ever read. (Well, excepting the gospel itself. And the rest of the bible). Before you start screaming at me, understand that I mean no disrespect to non-Christians who are married. Please don’t think that’s my implication.
(Also not the topic of discussion here: the brutal unfairness and discrimination that is a lack of equal legal rights for those not identifying as heterosexual. That blows.)
But we live in a culture where marriage is the death toll for real life, the kind that’s fun to live. You know what I mean: where husbands are bumbling, wives are shrewish, kids are a hassle… He just wants to play golf and she just wants to go shopping. How many times have people said: “It’s just a piece of paper, why bother getting married?” Or people point to the divorce rate and ask, “What’s the point?”
We live in a culture where people spend tens – even hundreds – of thousands of dollars on their weddings and then get divorced due to debt. Where infidelity is an expectation, men are emasculated, and women are stereotyped.
If you look at marriage like that… Well. What IS the point?
What my friend Jon is pointing out, and what’s inspired me so much this fine chilly evening, is the reminder that marriage isn’t about the dress or the linens or losing the rest of your life. It’s about becoming a living, breathing personification of the love God has for us, evidenced by His covenant with us.
And as for those people who tell me I would be kissing my life good-bye if I were to get married at this age? I say: you’re silly. Because I’m going to live and laugh and love and keep on going when I get married. (One day, after I meet a hypothetical boy who can become my hypothetical husband.) And I’m going to do it all for the glory of my King.
Sweet, ain’t it?
