A Lesson Learned: Fairy Tale?

With all the royal wedding hype, I can’t help but get swept away in the romance of it all. I, like most women, love to gush at romantic comedies and cry at weddings.

But there is one thing that always irks me about Hollywood’s portrayal of a “fairy tale” romance. It always ends when the couple either (a) gets together or (b) gets married.

Why is it that the “happily ever after” is assumed from there??? That’s when the real story truly begins. Going through the joys and trials of this life next to your very best friend is one of the greatest blessings God can grant us!

Our wedding day 7 years ago this July

But it is tough sometimes. Not because the person we love so much can sometimes drive us crazy (not that I’m speaking from experience or anything), but because we are selfish to the core. To care for the needs and wants of someone else ahead of ourselves is an act of worship. And quite frankly, one that I stink at most of the time.

I believe God designed marriage for that exact purpose–to stretch ourselves. Because when we are able to put ourselves last (or second, at least), we are refusing to let that part of our sinful nature “win.” And when we refuse to let one part of our sinful nature “win”, it’s so much easier to keep-on-keepin’-on!

“Love” is a term too often thrown around in our society. No, I don’t really “love” my Sonic Dr. Pepper’s.  True love is something that can only come from God…because it requires us to deny ourselves and look first to the needs of someone else. That’s the true meaning of love.  And who better exemplifies this than Christ.

This is the scripture that was read at our wedding:

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” -1 John 4: 7-12

As I have told my siblings before they have married, marriage won’t work unless both people are striving to grow closer to God. In and of ourselves, we are simply not capable of loving someone else (not with the self-sacrificial love marriage requires). That love MUST come from God. He is the only source for true and lasting love!

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6 Comments

  1. What a wonderful post. After the vows the real work begins. Watching the coverage made me a bit nostalgic for our wedding day, nearly 4 yrs ago, and as I looked at the pictures I can't help but think about how far we have come. Such a blessing! My grandparents just celebrated 65 yrs of marriage this past March and as we honored them and their relationship they kept reminding all of us it was not because of them but because of Him.

  2. Wonderful post with important truth. You're right – that beautiful wedding day is only the beginning!
    (Your wedding photo is gorgeous, btw!)

  3. So very true. Your post reminded me of a quote- "In the opinion of the world, marriage ends all, as it does in a comedy. The truth is precisely the opposite: it begins all." ~Anne Sophie Swetchine

    Thanks for the reminders. I find it to be such an encouragement to remember that I don't have to rely on MYSELF (or my ability) to love my husband and children, but like all things it is God working through me, that allows me to have that kind of unselfish, sacrificial love!

  4. "True love is something that can only come from God…because it requires us to deny ourselves and look first to the needs of someone else."
    Right on. The "world" definition of love can really be misleading…

    Thanks for sharing this post.

  5. we were married 7 years ago this coming july too! also, that brandon heath song is one of my very favorite things of ever!

    my brother in law is getting married in a few weeks, and i was praying with his fiance last week and caught myself saying "happiest day of her life" and i stopped in the prayer, looked at her and said, "listen. your wedding is going to be incredible, and it's going to be anointed with God's favor. but the thing is, being married to a Godly man is what's incredible…and every day will be the happiest, even when you're working through big things, because you've got Christ at the center."

    we've had some intense seasons in our marriage, and I never could've weathered the storms had i not known two things: GOD IS GOOD and that i am married to a man of great, christ-like character who will set himself aside for the good of our family.

  6. Amen! I, too, was caught up in the excitment of the royal wedding but it is indeed the marriage that is to be focused on more than the wedding. Thanks for the great reminder…and sharing your lovely wedding picture!

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