My favorite movie is the Princess Bride. It’s only slightly more favorite than the Usual Suspects, which I suppose says a lot about my taste in film. Anyway, this scene is one of the reasons I fell in love with the movie in the first place.
This leads into something I’ve learned this year on the Race. And that is this.
Marriage isn’t something to be afraid of.
I know. It sounds like one of those “duh” moments that you have in third grade. But seriously, the concept of marriage is scary. You’re committing. And not committing in the same way you commit to anything else. Oh no. This is another life you’re committing to. My apologies if that doesn’t scare the pants off anyone else, but eleven months ago, I was that scared. Talk to any of the girls from Petra. They’d tell story after story about how much I declared myself unfit for marriage.
Not that I’m against marriage by any stretch of the imagination; I just couldn’t understand how my friends from college and summer camp were able to walk down the aisle so soon after graduating (or while still finishing school). I, on the other hand, was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing with myself, and couldn’t fathom how to be responsible for my own life, let alone someone else’s.
I imagine there is very little that will give you a glimpse of married life quite like spending eleven months living with strangers 24/7.
You’ll fight, you’ll cry, you’ll get frustrated with each other, you’ll restrain yourself from throwing something, you’ll feel all that explosive stuff that makes us human. But along with that, and after you learn how to resolve the conflict, you’ll open yourself to receiving more love and grace and support and acceptance than you thought possible. You’ll fight for each other, you’ll protect each other, you’ll confide in each other and know that whatever you share is safe and sacred. There is very little that a heart desires more than to see and know another heart.
I’ve already seen it happen within my team. And the great thing about this year is that I’ve been reassured time and time again that where there is God, there is love and grace and all those other great things that (I assume) are in a marriage.
So there it is. I’m not afraid of getting married. I’m prepared to experience my own dweam wivin a dweam.
