Fairytale Marriage

We all grew up with different ideas of what marriage would be. Of course, our family of origin played a big role in what we should expect out of marriage. However, regardless of our upbringing and example of marriage, we all dreamed of a fairytale marriage.

As John Eldredge says, "Men want a beauty to rescue." And, on the flip side, women want a "Prince Charming" to rescue them. Sounds like a perfect fit, right? Not exactly. Women have a fairytale image of marriage in which they stay up all night talking and sharing dreams of the future with their spouse. Men, on the other hand, think a fairytale marriage is sex everyday and twice on Sundays! What a recipe for disaster.

For most married couples, the fairytale ended pretty quickly. In fact, most probably ended before marriage, but maybe a little hope was there that the fairytale would return in marriage. Do you remember when you first realized that your marriage was not going to be the fairytale that you dreamed it would be?

Heather and I probably realized that our fairytale was over when I got food poisoning our our honeymoon! There is nothing more romantic than sitting on the toilet while throwing up in the bathtub. Fairytale over.

Unfortunately, I think that many marriages hit a point when the fairytale ends, and the couple begins to give up from there. It is easy to just fall into the mundane, and then never expect anything better than that. Time out! Our God is not a God of the ordinary, boring, or mundane. Our God is a God of resurrection, redemption, creativity, and beauty. Why do we expect anything less from our marriage? Give your marriage back to God, and allow Him to write the ending...

Rusty and Heather