Thoughts on Marriage

This coming Wednesday, June 16th, Renee and I celebrate 16 years of marriage. After 16 years of marital experience, I’ve come up with the following thoughts to share. First, marriage is an awesome endeavor if you’re married to the right person. How do you know that you’re going to marry the right person? Obviously a decision like that can’t be rushed. There needs to be a lot of prayer, consideration, thought, discernment, etc. I remember thinking before I even met Renee that I would be nervous on my wedding day. But I vividly remember standing at the altar on June 16, 1994 and thinking to myself, “I’m not nervous at all,” and I wasn’t. I knew in my heart that God was the One who brought us together and we were meant to be. Way too many people rush into marriage only to regret it later. But neither is that an excuse to live together or be “pretend married” without the marital commitment. If you are considering marriage and you do not have the full assurance that the person you are marrying is the right person for you, there is no harm (and probably a lot of good) in delaying marriage.

That being said, if you are currently married and it’s “not working out,” way too many people rush out of marriage for the sake of convenience. Everything I said in the first paragraph is from a Western understanding of courtship, romance, dating, falling in love, marriage, etc. But much of the world has and continues to operate on arranged marriages where couples do not court, date, fall in love, and are filled with romantic bliss that leads to marriage. In arranged marriages, couples are thrust together and required to make things work. Being married in Egypt, my parent’s marriage was semi arranged, and nearly 40 years later, they are still together. I say all that only because if a marriage is not “working” I believe what’s broken can be fixed. It will require that both husband and wife diligently work on their issues, and they can go on and truly have a meaningful marital relationship, I’ve seen it happen time and again.

As you can tell from the photo, sixteen years ago I had a full head of hair, was just a tiny bit thinner, and Renee's always been beautiful.  I love you Renee! Happy Anniversary!