Marriage has a purpose and is reasonably expected to produce fruit – growing in our oneness and magnifying love toward each other and the world around us. But its glory is not revealed by mere happenstance. Like the farmer, we must plant and water the seeds of love for our marriage to produce mature fruit, which means we must discipline ourselves in the practice of love.
On the one hand, we recognize our marriage is called to more than simply going through the motions of life together. While roommates do provide us with company and help around the house, marriage is a sacred union of love. And it’s only natural to expect this union to grow in love and passion over the years.
But the fruit of marriage is the result of years of cultivation. It’s not enough to merely mark anniversaries if we’re not also putting in the work of love in between these milestones.
And perhaps this is confusing when we did not have to work to enjoy our first spark of love. Did we make a mistake? Will our marriage last? But often this is simply the growing pain needed to shift from young love to mature love. While young love doesn’t take much work, mature love takes discipline to cultivate and eventually enjoy.
Much like our spiritual formation happens over years of practicing spiritual disciplines, such as spending intentional time with God and God’s people, praying, reading his word, and the like, our maturity in marriage is also the result of our daily practice of love over the years.
Our marriage will not produce the fruit it’s capable of producing when we fail to steward our love as we should.
In the end, discipline yourself in the practice of love for your marriage to mature and yield the fruit worthy of its sacred calling.
Photo by baikang yuan on Unsplash
