MARRIAGE BOOT CAMP

"This know also, that in the last days periolous times shall come, for men will be lovers of their own selves...lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." II Tim. 3: 1-2, 4 KJV


I think someone needs to start a Marriage Boot Camp! I have just heard of another marriage that is headed for divorce court because the woman was tired of being married....tied down.

What was she thinking marriage was going to be? I can tell you...a Hollywood version of what it REALLY is! She was expecting moonlight and roses, looking into each others' eyes over a candlelight dinner, dancing in each other's arms every night to "I'll Always Love You", passionate romance and a husband who looked like he stepped out of a magazine ad for Calvin Klein. Instead she got a reality show called "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MARRIED COUPLE"....alarms going off at 5 am, husband looking scruffy with morning breath, breakfast to prepare, lunches to pack, garbage to gather, litter boxes to clean out, grocery shopping to do, meals to be cooked after a long day at work, laundry that is never ending, errands to run, constant exhaustion, too much month at the end of the paycheck, bills that never stop, and that is all before a baby comes on the scene!!

That is why I think couples should have to go through marriage boot camp. They should have to go somewhere for 6 months and without consumating a marriage, they should have to be forced to deal with all the demands a normal couple would undergo. They should be given a certain amount of money (which by the way is never enough), and with it should have to pay an imaginary house note, car notes, and bills that a normal couple would encounter. Then just when they think they have the hang of it, they should be thrown a curve with one of them losing their job, cutting their pay in half. They should have things break, someone get sick or some other common stress that married couples face. There should not be much money for going out to eat, clothes or other luxuries. Then, before they pass the course, they should be given kids. Just a couple (not their own, of course, but I'm sure they could find a few people who would gladly farm theirs out for a few days) for long enough for them to experience what it's like to never have a moment of privacy and to know what it's like to walk the floor with a colicky baby or clean poop from multiple services before you've had your morning coffee.

Yep, a good dose of reality might just reduce the number of cases of divorces and couples who are ready to throw in the towel before it's hardly had time to get wet.

Marriage is a commitment. I just don't think most of those heading to the altar these days get that. It's not just something a woman cooked up so she can play bride and plan a wedding. It is meant to be for life...'til death do us part'. It does NOT mean that if you get tired of your spouse or if life gets hard or if it's not turning out as you imagined that you can bail. It means that you stick it out, you work at it TOGETHER, that you esteem the other greater than yourself and most important of all, you depend on the only One who can hold your marriage together...the Lord!