Fellowship Of The Ring

No, no, no...I'm not talking about hobbits and wizards, though those are really good books and movies!

I'm talking about the fellowship that is meant to exist between spouses, soul mates. The Bible contains some variation of the following verses 5 times. The first is all the way back in Genesis, and it's important enough that Jesus restated it, and then Paul reinforced it in Ephesians. Sounds pretty important to me!

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
So they are no longer two, but one.
Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. -- Mark 10:7-9

I know there are times when Suzanne and I think so much alike that we finish each others sentences and at other times it's like we are talking different languages altogether. Early on in our marriage, that would lead to an argument including almost anything but fists flying followed by no communication at all. Satan definitely managed to put a serious wedge between us. She had to take an evening job since we had little kids, so then we weren't even seeing each other and when we did it was nothing but stress.

Clearly not the fellowship and the oneness that the Bible talks about. So how do you fight against that kind of pressure? What the heck are you supposed to do when you can't even talk to your spouse anymore? Seems pretty hopeless I'll admit, and I certainly reached that point myself. I didn't know what to do next, but I knew that hanging around wasn't part of the plan. After all, plenty of people divorce and then re-marry and live happily ever after. So why not me?

It took a strong woman willing to fight for our marriage and, even though we wouldn't have told you at the time that God was in the middle of it, He was. We talked and cried and spent a lot of time over the next weeks putting ourselves back together. We re-dedicated ourselves to the marriage, to each other. We learned, though not all at once to be sure, how to deal with the things that are stresses for any marriage. We simply willed ourselves to remember our covenant and make the other of us our priority.

We are called to put our individuality on the back burner and create a new entity. One that is sacred and holy before the Lord. Like the byline on this blog says, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." Aim for nothing short of living out God's will for your marriage!