I Choose to Have a Great Marriage

I'll be honest. This past week has been a rough marriage week. We've been bickering about every little thing; there have been a lot of outside stresses that we haven't handled as well as we could have; we haven't spent much time alone, etc. What occurred to me in a brief moment of clarity this week was that the difference between me now and me a few years ago is that I care about our marriage now. I know that sounds harsh, but a few years ago, I completely took my marriage for granted. I subconsciously thought that no matter how I treated my husband, he would never leave me. Ha!  I have since realized the ignorance of my subconscious mind!  A person can only tolerate so much, and about 5 years ago, we both had reached our limit. We have worked so hard on our marriage the past few years. We have talked more, prayed more, shared more, laughed more, and cried more than we ever have together! We have learned the hard way that it's better to get our feelings out in the open no matter what the consequences, than to keep them inside and make each other miserable.  We work daily on making the other person happy.  We have changed more as individuals and as a couple than we ever have!
So, Sunday as I was driving into church, I put my ipod on the itrip and was flipping through songs. The song The Blessing by John Waller came on. The words to the song stopped me in my tracks.

"This day You set life,
You set death right before us.
This day.
Every blessing and curse is a choice now,
And we will choose to be a blessing for life."

All of a sudden this light bulb went on. Not that I haven't heard stuff like this before, but in an instant it struck me. I can choose to do and say things that destroy my marriage, or I can choose to say and do things that build up my marriage and make it GREAT. This past week, I have been doing and saying things that have been destructive to my marriage. I was CHOOSING to be that way! Maybe not consciously, but I was still doing it nevertheless. When I got to church I told my husband that I was going to choose to do and say things to make our marriage GREAT. I wasn't going to be negative about things that have come up this past week. I was going to do what I could to live in peace with him this week and make our lives happier! I CHOOSE TO HAVE A GREAT MARRIAGE! Will you?


Lisa Powell