As we prepared for my best friend’s wedding reality hit me. She’s getting married! She’s embarking on the biggest life changing decision a person can make. College pales in comparison to spending a lifetime with someone. People would say having kids is a big decision, I agree. But everyone can’t have kids, and there are plenty of people who have had unplanned pregnancies.
Marriage is the definite, “I am doing this.” It’s the one decision you have all power and control to make that will change your life completely. I do. Those two words together are two of the most powerful words in human history. They’re powerful words in life’s past, present, and future.
If people knew the true severity of marriage, I doubt people would rush into it. I doubt people would “force” the issue so much if they knew what they were pushing for. And a good part of me doubts that the divorce rate would be so high today.
Yes, it’s scary to think of. I’ll admit that. It’s jarring to me that one day, when I say “I do,” I’ll be saying I won’t return my ex’s call or “that one guy who always had so much potential.” (This will have stopped before the point of marriage anyway.) I’ll be saying I will sacrifice who I am for who I’ll become in a marriage. And the same “I do” means I won’t give up on us.
But the beauty in “I do” is the purity of the commitment it represents. When I see two people who really mean “they will… and they won’t…” for the sake of the marriage, it makes sense. It makes sense to not be scared about any of it anymore.
I think it’s funny when single people portray singleness as a lifestyle that married people are missing out on. What exactly are they missing out on? Freedom to be a little more selfish? Being able to have finances that are solely yours? Having a bed all to one’s self?
Those are well and good, but I don’t think they’re worth “I do.” I wish every God-ordained couple the gift of the happiest marriage they can have. I also really wish that the couples out there that are struggling would remember that you both said, “I do.”
Marriage is sacred. Although it may not seem like it all the time, it’s a good thing. You two embarked on a good thing together, whether knowingly or unknowingly.
Sometimes, I think it helps to remember you both had a choice and you made the same one, each other.