Wife: Reflection on Our Wedding Vows

Us in our natural state

Since it is my anniversary, it naturally makes me reflect on the last three years.  Kevin and I have been through a lot! And I do mean a lot!  But I think what amazes me most is that our covenant is everlasting and I live in that every day.  I can honestly say that the understanding of God that marriage gives me most is what eternity looks like and what eternity means.  It is something as normal and commonplace as dinner together and it is as vast as loving someone you are nowhere near.  It is both the everyday, existing with in time, and the eternal, existing outside of it. 

Kevin and I have not been together for an anniversary yet.  Maybe our fourth year will be the charm.  But of course, it leaves me reflecting on the time that we have shared.  He has been with me through sickness (and a LOT of it) and through health.  He has been with me through school, through training, through my first two years in the Army, through an NTC rotation, through my first deployment, my first promotion, through his father's death, through him starting a new job, us moving across the country to Colorado, through raising two little puppies and so much more.  And yet, all of these things are so simple, so natural, and just a part of life. It doesn't surprise me that we have been together through them. It doesn't surprise me that we come out on the other side stronger than we were before we tackle each obstacle.

Marriage is the thing that feels common. It feels ordinary. It is the everyday. But it is also from the divine. It gives me the most security and peace I have ever felt outside the cross. It is the most assurance I have known outside of salvation. It is part of my identity and yet does not define me. It is both my cross and my blessing. It is the place that causes me the most joy and (on rare occasion) the most pain.

Kevin is still the most amazing man I have ever met.  He is the first person outside of my family to show me what sacrificial love looks like.  He has always been willing and happy to let me have my way over him pushing his.  He is someone who I can have any conversation with.  He is very intelligent and very down to earth.  He is my spiritual leader, my counselor, my disciplor, my mentor, my teacher, my editor, my provider, my protector, my comforter, my lover, my friend and I am so overjoyed to know that all of this comes together in two amazing words: my husband. With him, I am my most vulnerable and my most free.  I have the utmost respect for him.  And the most astounding thing to me is that he chose me as his wife.

And on this day three years ago, my husband and I stood in front of our family and friends to enter a covenant before God.  It was on that day where we said these vows.

My husband:
I vow to you these things which I can only fulfill by the grace of God.
As Christ loves the church so I vow to give myself daily for your sake.
As Christ serves the church so I vow to serve you with humility, patience, and love.
As Christ provides for the church so I vow to provide for your needs.
As Christ makes the church more like himself so I vow to point you to Him in all things.
As Christ leads His church so I vow to lead you as I follow Christ.
And just as Christ has promised never to leave or forsake His church so I vow to never depart from or abandon you, for richer or forpoorer, in sickness and in health. For better or for worse Until death do us part

Me:
I vow to you these things which I can only fulfill by the grace of God.
As the church is to respect Christ unconditionally so I vow to respect you also.
As the church is to love Christ above all others so I vow to delight in you alone.
As the church is to submit to Christ so I vow to submit to you.
As the church is to represent Christ in all that she does so I vow to represent you with dignity and honor.
As the church is to serve Christ so I vow to serve you with humility and patience.
And just as the church will forever remain the bride of Christ so I vow to never depart from or abandon you, for richer or for poorer In sickness and in health. For better or for worse Until death do us part