What is marriage?

It is the most beautiful thing that can happen between two people in love.

A marriage is more than just a husband and a wife. It is a bridge which allows the love of two very special people to give meaning and worth and wonder to life. It is a continual process of building; of shaping; of communicating; and caring. It is the deepest and sweetest understanding. It is sharing todays and tomorrows together and making each one more treasured and more complete than anyone could make them alone. A marriage is a home interwoven with hopes and memories and dreams. The thankfulness and love it can bring have no comparison.

Being happily married is the most beautiful thing that can happen . . . to anyone.

Collin McCarty in The Language of Marriage (Boulder, CO: Blue Mountain Press, 1999)

Reflection

From time to time it is good to remind ourselves about the beauty and wonder of marriage. In the early moments of forming a relationship we begin to experience what is spoken of here; in the magical moments of courting, in the moment of the proposal we participated in the beauty of becoming complete. And it was wonderful!

As we build the marriage so many other things begin to overgrow this pristine and beautiful mystery. The details of everyday--groceries, meals, house cleaning, home repair, laundry, the demands of work, the demands of your spouse, your children, your parents, your in-laws, your church, your civic organizations, the news of the day, the market, and on and on--all these, choke out the beauty, the wonder, the mystery that was present in the beginning.

So it is good, from time to time, to remember that despite the thousand little things that grab for your attention and try to steal the wonder of your finding each other, choosing each other, promising your love to each other forever, you are in the midst of the most beautiful thing that can happen . . . to anyone.

St. Margaret's Episcopal Church   47535 Highway 74   Palm Desert, CA 92260
Tel: 760.346.2697   Fax: 760.341.1212    On line:
www.stmargarets.org