Marriage: A Life's Journey

Proverbs 4:25-27
"²⁵Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.²⁶ Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."

Drifting in Marriage

Good marriages are like a relaxing canoe ride when the winds are calm and the lake water is as smooth as glass. You just have to be careful you don’t drift.  I would consider my marriage a great marriage.  We have our rough times and our great times.  We do everything we can to allow God to be the center of our marriage.  Is it easy?  No, because we, our flesh, our personal wants and desires get in the way.  Once we realize that God is guiding us as a couple, we start focusing on His wants and His desires and our marriage is strengthened by that. By having Him as the center point of your marriage, you will grow closer together instead of drifting apart.  Trust me, that drawing closer has happened so many times because He has redirected our thinking on Him instead of the things of this world.   

I had a roommate in college, his name was Craig. Craig decided to ditch classes one day and go canoeing.  So Craig left, grabbed a canoe, and set off for a quiet day on the lake. That day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and almost no breeze, so the water was completely still. Letting the canoe come to rest in the middle of the lake, it dawned on him: it was after hours, and no other boats were out. So he did the only sensible thing. With an extra life jacket for his pillow, he nestled in for a short nap. An hour later, he woke up to voices. Somehow his canoe had beached along the shoreline of a camping area. Craig realized there was a current in the water and a breeze in the air he hadn’t sensed.
They’d caused him to drift, and he ended up somewhere he never intended to be.

Like that canoe, marriages often drift. There’s no obvious conflict or struggle, just subtle distractions that lull spouses asleep. Couples hardly notice they’re losing interest in one another until they end up somewhere they never intended to be.

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution. Be intentional about the path your relationship is taking and keep your eyes focused on the Lord. It may not take as much effort as you think, but these small course corrections can change your marriage.

Marriage is important and not to be taken lightly.  I love my wife and thank God for her each and every day.  I know that at some point in time she will be reading this today so, Emily Plemons, I love you and I thank God for not allowing us to drift and for always bringing us closer together.