Marriage and Wine

It has been over a year since we came home from California.  July 4, 2012 is when we came home.  I remember the day so clearly. I remember driving down our street for the first time and feeling like we were in familiar territory again.  I remember showing up at our family's houses unexpectedly.  I remember the expression on their faces when they saw us.  It was awesome!

Fast forward a year later and we are settled, yet making changes in our life too.  This past year really stretched and grew our marriage in wonderful ways.  We found ourselves in conflict over Dan's job as he struggled to give up the travelling job and take a full time job.  We were at odds about that decision.  We had different views on what God was doing with his job situation.  We had a different timeline for our financial goals.  I was okay with extending the timeline...he wanted things done as quickly as possible.  We went round and round for a very long time.  We had discussion after discussion.  It seemed like a long time for us to not agree on something so big in our lives. I just wished for him to see what I saw. And I wished for contentment in his life.  I wanted him to see how much God was doing in our lives because of the job change.  I wanted him to feel peaceful like I did.  But I learned that you can't force that peace on anyone.  It has to come from the Spirit.

These past few weeks we have come upon an opportunity to make some tough decisions for our family.  This has been the best experience for us.  We are very like minded with the decisions we are making.  We are experiencing what it feels like to have the same agenda.  We feel a new closeness because we are thinking the same.  Our hearts are united again and it is good.  It reminds me why He put us together almost 9 years ago.  We are coming up on our anniversary in a week and I am so proud of our marriage.  We have proven to be resilient through the trials and have learned to love each other through those times.  Love and our covenant with God have bonded us for life.  I am beginning to understand how marriage can be compared to the aging of wine.  They both just get better over time.