Welcome to Marriage Monday

Our Sacred Commitment
A Promise that Provides Security in Times of Crisis

What do circus high wire acts and marriage have in common?
(Besides extreme trust, interlaced body parts, and shiny red suits...)



A safety net! Both marriage and high wire acts require a very strong safety net below the surface to provide security and protection against missteps, sudden mishaps, and mistakes.

In marriage, the safety net is good old-fashioned commitment. Commitment is the critical undergirding that keeps couples safe from disaster. When communication fails, disease strikes, or economic hardships arrive, our commitment to one another allows our marriage to temporarily off the high wire of happiness. Commitment keeps it from shattering to pieces on the ground.

God intended for married couples to experience happiness within their exclusive union. But isn’t marriage intended to make us holy? Yes. Of course. But should we gain the knowledge and skills to achieve happiness in marriage? Again, the answer is absolutely—Yes.

We know that life is cyclical. Happiness in marriage comes and goes. Sometimes we’re able traverse the high wire of daily life in perfect harmony, laughing, and enjoying each other from end to end. Unfortunately, because of sin, our marriages face difficulties and hardships too. During those crisis periods, we’re out of balance. Bailing out and starting over with someone else might seem like an attractive idea.

Both marriage and high wire acts require a very strong safety net below the surface to provide security and protection against missteps, sudden mishaps, and mistakes.

However, like a circus safety net, it's our strength of commitment that allows us to stay together through the difficult days, while working toward a better tomorrow. And just as the sun sets in the evening, morning always arrives on schedule. When we fall off the high wire of marital happiness and down into the safety net of commitment, we can be assured that God will help us find a way to climb up the ladder of happiness once again.

Christian marriage counselor, Willard Harley PhD observed that couples who are in love, never divorce. His clinical work has focused on helping distressed couples fill each others’ “emotional love tanks” in order to fall in love again.

In light of Dr. Harley’s counseling success, we can think of commitment as both the safety net and the high wire itself. Commitment acts like a bridge between two opposite extremes: angry divorce and long-term marital satisfaction. Commitment gives us the necessary time after a crisis to traverse the wire. Commitment empowers couples to carefully proceed away from a state of conflict and toward the balanced state of relational happiness that they both long for.

Commitment acts like faith; it fuels hope. And hope can lead you to love,
if you let it.

Related

• Marriage: What Makes Women Happy?
• Is Marriage for Happiness or Holiness?
• Does Divorce Make People Happy?

Up Next—Bible Study: First-Fruits of the Lord
Photos: gynti_46 (Flickr)




Today is Marriage Monday. Join Us!

If you would like to link a post for Marriage Monday today, take a minute to read the overview of our topic, “Our Sacred Commitment.” Choose one of the four titles listed and then tell us what you've learned about commitment in marriage. Remember, you're the expert!

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Plan to meet here again for Marriage Monday on November 1, 2010. Next month's group topic is, "Financial Contentment in Marriage." Four title choices will be posted in approximately two weeks.

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