I think we could best illustrate marriage by watching a child learn to walk.  It has been a joyful thing to see my children learn to walk.  Many of you have seen it happen. First, they sit on the ground and all of a sudden, they get the bright idea to start crawling.  After a while, they get down on their hands and knees, but they do not have the motor running yet.  They just kind of sit there and rock back and forth.  Finally, the motor starts and they start crawling all over the house.

Then, they get the idea that, “Hey, there’s a couch over there.  If I crawl over to the couch, maybe I can pull myself up and stand up like my dad or mom or brother or sister.” And would you believe it, they finally pull themselves up and they are standing.  Boy, the celebration begins.  You break out the camera.  You take thirty-five shots.  Ten years later, you wonder,
“What are all those shots of this little kid standing at the couch?”  But that was when it happened. Finally, the child sees dad or mom sitting across the living room floor and they think, “It’d be great if I could walk across to them.”
 

And do you know what happens?  They take their first step.  Bang!  And they sit there awhile, and they think, “Well, let’s back up and try that again.” So, they take a couple of steps.  Over a process of days and weeks, although after they start walking, you wish it had taken years, but they finally take two or three steps into your open arms. You rejoice and have another celebration.  They have learned to walk!
 

No matter how long you have been walking though, you always have the capacity to stumble and fall.  No matter how long you have been married, that is also is a process in which you crawl, you pull yourself up, you take a step, and bang, you fall.  Then, you pull yourself up again and walk a couple of steps, and you fall again, you blow it.  Now, wouldn’t it be foolish for that child to sit on the floor, after trying about five hundred times, and saying, “Well, Dad, I guess I’m not called to walk.”
So many couples fall and stumble and get up and fall again, and then, some may come to the conclusion, “Well, I guess God doesn’t want us to walk together.”

My friend, when you fall and stumble, and you will, because you will always have the capacity,  the difference will be that you are developing a relationship.  Built into it are the principles of consideration, commitment, companionship.
Where do we start?  First of all, we start with our relationship to the Lord.  Then we stop with our relationship with our spouse.  We leave it up to the Lord how they will respond, but we do what is right.
 

May our marriages be characterized  with the ingredients:  consideration, commitment, companionship, confidence, counsel, and caring.

Last changed: Feb 15 2016 at 3:45 AM

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