How to Stay Married!

We just celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary, which has got me to thinking.

Dating in 1982

First of all, I must be a lot older than I feel, because if I can still add, and I have been married 27 years and got married when I was 21, then I am....well, you do the math.

Second of all, and more importantly, how, in a world of happiness-driven, romance-obsessed, self-oriented people and messages, do people even stay married anymore?

We were so young and clueless when we got married. We didn't think we were....but we were.

But we did say, right from the beginning, that divorce was not an option. No way. No how. If we had problems, we were going to have fix them, because neither one of us was going anywhere!

That commitment made and still makes all the difference. And as I thought about it a little last week, the story of the oyster glue came to mind.  God gave oysters this very special glue that hangs on through storms and floods and droughts and high tide and low tide. It hangs on through everything. Man has never invented it's equal. So my first thought was that the picture of a long, successful marriage was one where two oysters were hanging on, to each other, by means of their special glue.

But then I realized I was wrong.

If they hung on to each other they would be tossed about in the wind and storm and waves, and there would be no stability.

No. The picture is rather, two oysters, side by side, hanging on tenaciously with the strongest oyster glue ever, to The Rock.

The Rock.

I love Thee, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress

 and my deliverer,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, 

my stronghold.

Ps. 18:1,2

Because unless The Rock, the foundation, the base, is secure and stable and strong, you can hang on to each other all you like but you won't be safe.

The problem with us people (oysters) is that we are so fickle.  So moody.  So wavering in our feelings and thoughts.  We might do great for a while, but then something bad happens, or something irritating, or something frustrating, or something negligent.  And then, if left to ourselves, we would just let go of our oyster partner.

How much better if we are hanging on to The Rock. To God. Because, God does not waver. God does not change. God is not moody. God is always there.

So I (in my lovely oyster shell) hang on.
And my sweet Oyster hangs on too.

To God.

Right next to each other.

And the storms rage. And the waves beat. And the tides rise and fall.

And because of The Rock...
And because of the glue He made and gave to us...

And because we choose to use it...

Because of that....after 27 years....in contrast to the world around us who give up when it is hard and leave when it is not what they thought it would be....we are still married.

Still hanging on to The Rock.

Right next to each other.

That is how we stayed married for 27 years.  What is your secret?