Today marks the beginning of Lent. I'm not giving anything up this year--instead, I'm going to work on my biggest spiritual struggle--contentment. Contentment in good times and in bad times. Additionally, I (well, Jared and I) plan to spend the next 40 days studying the book, Sacred Marriage. The book is not a marriage self-help book but takes the approach that the goal of marriage is holiness, not happiness. Before we got married, Jared and I attended an Engaged Encounter weekend, which was one of the most humbling and life/relationship changing experiences of our lives. Engaged Encounter also operated on the premise that the goal of marriage is not happiness, but unity. (This is not to say that the goal of marriage should be to be unhappy--but that, if one expects marriage to be the answer to happiness, they will be sorely disappointed. It's an unrealistic goal.) Jared and I embrace this concept for our own marriage but we've found, in the day-to-day stresses of life, it's so easy to forget that marriage takes work. Hard work. I want to take the next 40 days to refocus my relationship with God...seek contentment in my life as it is, without needing anything more and, through this, to reaffirm my marriage.
I'll end this with these great words that I intend to try to make a daily devotion over the next 40 days...
If God brings you to it,
He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God,
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.
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