Marriage- Feb 12 Meeting

Marriage 

Written By: Marge Williams

Our first February MOPS meeting started off big!  The message went out that we had a bagel bar planned for the morning’s breakfast. Wow!  The food came and it was abundant and delicious.  So many yummy choices and plenty for those who wanted seconds, or thirds.  This group sure knows how to celebrate with food!

The orange table shared their “It works for me.’  The suggestion to keep a lined sticky notepad by the coffee maker for reminders, is a great one for all moms. Privilege point’s Appsounds great for positive parenting. Our mentor mom Kerry shared a great book for organization. Decluttering at theSpeed of Lifeby Dana K. White. Who doesn’t want to get and keep the closets and cabinets organized?

Scattergories was the fast paced game this morning.  Shouts and laughter were heard around the room.  The Red table won a Starbucks coffee date for the most correct answers! 

The highlight of the morning was our guest speaker. Our own pastor Brian Hunt shared his heart with all the moms this morning,

Trapping the Unicorn Marriage was Brian’s clever title for the mornings talk.  He began his talk with the reminder that Crossroads Grace Community Church is committed to helping moms become the best they can be. The church wants to walk alongside moms and their families as they strive to raise children to honor God and make a difference in this world. What a wonderful reminder of what the church is all about.

He shared what he wrongly thought about women when he was dating Cherie.  He thought girls never burped, never farted, and never pooped. They were perfect unicorns!  So funny…and makes the point that we all have expectations for our marriages. He said, “even if you’re not married right now, deep down there is the ideal version of marriage that we all are striving for that we think will solve all kinds of things.”

What does the Bible say about joining our lives with another person?

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

We all have heard these words spoken at weddings and Brian explained well what they really mean in marriage.  These words were written by the wisest guy ever, King Solomon.  God asked Solomon what he wanted and Solomon answered that he wanted wisdom.  God gave him the wisdom to lead Israel and to go on to write three books of the Bible, including Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 4 addresses the three strands of a cord. The order of these strands is important.   We are the first strand.  Faulty thinking says that our spouse would be the second strand.  But our spouse cannot complete us, we need a Savior, who is the only one who can make us complete. God is our second strand of three. Then our spouse. When we bring God into the cord He completes us, fully loved and healed. “You should feel a great deal of relief knowing that each of you is the third strand in your marriage not the second.” ”God is the sustainer of your strength and your relationship, not you, and not your spouse.”

Our spouse will let us down, just as we will let them down. Our cord doesn’t have to break under the weight of disappointment because your strength is found in God, not in your spouse. 

Marriage was never designed to:

1.    Complete you

2.    Fix all your problems

3.    Replace God

Marriage was designed to:

1.    Give you a Co-Warrior

2.    Give you a shared mission

3.    Bring you closer to God

After Pastor Brian’s talk we had great conversation around the tables.  We talked about our idealistic views of marriage.  What place God had in our dating relationship with our spouse? What we thought about God being the 2nd strand in our cord of 3, and how to keep Him first in our lives.

Wednesday morning was filled with wisdom, laughter and friendship.

Many thanks to the childcare workers, the leadership for MOPS, and all the moms who were able to share in the morning.  

Great marriages don’t happen by luck or by accident. They are the result of a consistent investment of time, thoughtfulness, forgiveness, affection, prayer, mutual respect, and a rock-solid commitment between a husband and a wife.  Dave Willis