Last week I had the privilege of accompanying a friend to her last wedding dress fitting. As I sat there and waited for her, a young bride to be was trying on dresses with all of her bridesmaids present. As she tried on the dress that was to be “the one”, she exclaimed, “I feel like such a princess.” She looked like one too!
It brought me back to my own wedding, almost 23 years ago. Back to feelings of anticipation and excitement of marrying my prince! Just that short period of time of remembering the beauty of our young love, and our longing for one another, and preparing to be married to each other, made me love my husband all the more!
Sometimes, many times in fact, life gets in the way of love. We are busy with work, with raising kids, with ministry and hobbies, and family responsibilities, and we forget to invest in the most important relationship of all, our marriage.
Early on in my marriage I realized that, unlike Cinderella, life was not “happily ever after.” Don’t get me wrong, we are very happy. But not because I married my prince, but because we have worked at our marriage. We have made a consistent effort to put each other’s needs above our own, to work together as a team. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been worth the effort. Yet, remembering that I did marry my prince and remembering those moments long ago, helped to even strengthen where we are now.
As I read these verses in Philippians 2:1-2, it reminded me of how important it is to have the attitude of Christ in our marriage.
“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.”
May I suggest, the two of you get out your wedding album, or your “video”, and “remember when.” Then, talk about how you can bring the attitude of Christ back into your marriage. It may be a lot easier to do this after you have reminisced about your time as prince and princess!