Reconciliation intentionality

It's hard to believe that Bekah and I have now been married for 51 days! I love her more than ever and, although, yes, the honeymoon is officially over, I want to constantly grow in my love for her. The warm fuzzies won't always, and aren't always, with us and how we need to learn to love each other through the thick and thin of every-day life. That is why we vowed to each other on our wedding day to love each other "regardless of the circumstances".

I've been reading for my Marriage Counseling class in the Fall from Paul David Tripp's book "What did you Expect?". Tripp is writing about being realistic with marriage expectations. At times, expectations can be controlling and out of control. They can be unrealistic or tempered with reality. So often we have our own expectations of personal happiness and we expect our spouse to meet that dream. However God has the goal of personal holiness for us, and our spouse is an instrument of His for holiness in our lives.

We need to live day by day and not feed off and live off the good times and romance and wonder. Those times are great, and necessary, but are not what keeps a marriage together. We need to continually be forgiving one another and loving one another deeply from the heart, as Paul says in Ephesians. Tripp calls this "reconciliation intentionality", realizing that the little moments are what counts. They are the brick layers and the very fabric of relationships. How we need the grace of a living and giving God in relationships. Bekah and my love for one another needs to draw from daily worship of our God as Creator and Sovereign.