Marriage: An Important First Lesson

It's 8:00 on a Wednesday evening. I have made dinner. Packed a lunch and taken a walk with my husband. Today I spent my day unpacking. This is has been the story of my life for the past few days. Our house is slowly becoming a home. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I wouldn't trade it, but I will say this. In the mere 10 days we have been married, I have learned an important lesson. In fact, I think I was learning something of this lesson before the "I" and "will" ever came out of my mouth. The important lesson - wait for it - is that marriage will not complete me. Marriage was never meant to complete me. Those famous words Renee Zellweger uttered in Jerry MacGuire are a false notion.

Believe it or not, marriage will not complete you. He will not complete you.

After leaving to have my hair done on wedding day, Amanda and I discussed this very thing. For so long in my life, I just knew that having a husband would mean that I had arrived; I was it. I didn't think I would take on celebrity status, but I certainly thought marriage would bring a level of contentment that I had never experienced before. All of the yearning and pining would come to an end if I just got married.

Wonk! Think Family Feud style X across the screen noise.

I think the Lord has been preparing me all along to recognize this BEFORE I walked down the aisle. Makes it a little sweeter after the fact. This lesson has eased some expectations I have had about marriage. It has made the first ten days - normal. Normal might sound a little odd, and it was for me at first. But I'm okay with normal now. I'm not giddy and in-your-face-I'm-married. I'm more like "I'm going to sleep now with this man I love and waking up to him" - normal is good. Normal helps me to realize that though marriage is a beautiful gift, it doesn't complete me. It's not where my hopes and dreams are to rest.

Rather, it [marriage] points me to where my hopes and dreams should rest. Marriage complements me. It complements me for what God has planned for me at this time in my life. I have to trust Him rather than myself. By trusting Him, I am able to trust that marriage is for my good and my ultimate completion is in Him.