Rest. Day Five. Gratitude.

"I'd love to hear how you balance your marriage and keep it healthy.."
so said a few of you when I last asked about blog topics.
I have to admit, I snorted a laugh on this one. Marriage advice? Really? To write about marriage I'd actually have to THINK about my marriage and sad to say, I really don't do that very much.
Most often, I am caught up in surviving, managing the children, and just making it through the day.  My husband gets what's leftover, maybe, if there is anything.  And he's surviving too, living out his vocation as pastor and daddy.
If it were on my shoulders to plan some sort of marriage maintenance event, it would never happen. The logistics involved for me to get away, even for a night, are overwhelming.  I'd rather just stay home, and keep doing what I am doing, rather than do the work required to "find a sub."
He has to make me get away. He's always had to force me to relax, even in college, when he taught me that it was OK to walk away from the books for the sake of fun, of him, of us.
He took the initiative, and put our vacation on the calendar with all the authority of a Man. I submitted, packed, and planned for our time away.

We don't shrug off our vocations. I am still mommy, and his is still pastor, and daddy.
But we are husband and wife, too, and the time we spend living as Lover and the Beloved is good for us both.
We fill each other up, as God intended.



How good it is to be loved by a man who seeks my good.

Father, when chaos returns to our lives, keep us grateful for the gift you have given us in each other. Continue to grow us up in You and in fervent love for one another.  In Jesus, Amen.