Marriage isn't for the weak of heart pt.2

A few years back, I met a couple that had been married for nearly 60 years. At the time, I was too young and ignorant to truly appreciate this couple and the advice that they offered.

It wasn't until I became married about five years ago that I began to have a new awareness about this couple and the concept of marriage itself.

My first lesson was this - marriage is a constant job that never ends. There are no off days in being a husband or a wife. I just couldn't remove the gold colored circle on my left hand that felt like a huge stone sometimes and somehow revert back to being single.

During a heated argument, I couldn't just get in my car and drive to home until I cooled off (I was already home)!!!!!

I just couldn't pull out money in my account and go have a night out with the boys just on a whim (we had a joint account and a strict budget)!!!

I also learned that I couldn't always just get what I wanted.

But most importantly, I learned that there would be things that I had no control over that were going to happen in life that would forever change the complexion and nature of my relationship with my wife.

Nothing hits a marriage more than the death of a child. I want to tell you, that before my son died my wife and I could claim a sort of innocence about life. Despite any hardships we thought we might have had, we didn't hadn't seen anything until we lost our little boy.

I guess that's the biggest lesson of all. You can stay faithful, you can be honest; you can be considerate; but if you stay together long enough, there are just some things in life that are going to happen that you nor your spouse will be able to prevent.

I look back now, and I think of this couple. For 60 years they were together. Then one day the Lord called the husband home. Eight months later, his wife passed - so heartbroken because she could not be with her husband anymore.

But I tell you this, to get to where that couple that had been married 60 years got to, you have to go through something. In these days and times, we don't want to go through anything. We want to take the easy route.

We think that marriage is as simple as two people coming together and saying let's be boyfriend and girlfriend. It's not - and it's going to cost you something if you go down that path.

I'm not saying this to be negative about marriage, I'm saying (writing) it so all the single people reading it will know that this is something to be taken seriously. There's no doubt there are tons of rewards in being married. (Each reward is different depending on what God gives you, so I won't go into a huge list).

Often times people think of the rewards without even thinking about the hard work it takes to get to that point.

Marriage isn't easy - but in my opinion, it's worth it.

P.S. I'm still learning. Maybe when I get to 60 years I'll be able to have some more concrete advice!!!!