I knew the quote I was looking for, brought the book down from the shelf, and took a sharp intake of breath as I opened the book at random to begin searching and my eyes fell right on the underlined sentences, the third in a string of unexpected moments this evening,
“If our views of marriage are too romantic and idealistic, we underestimate the influence of sin on human life. If they are too pessimistic and cynical, we misunderstand marriage’s divine origin.”
– Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage
It was a quote I had paraphrased to a friend just a week earlier, followed by an admission that I feel pessimistic regarding marriage though I used to be more of an optimist about it. It’s a quote exemplified in two articles I stumbled on: When Marriage is Hard and When Dreams Differ. Reading the former essay will remind you (as if real life weren’t reminder enough) that we are all fallen humans. The latter offers a glimpse into one couple’s God-ordained backstory.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
p.s. Today was the first day in a long while that I felt the ability to have compassion. I’m often tenderhearted, but I was surprised at “the warm fuzzies” I felt on my drive home after a quick trip to the office. I had spent the larger part of the year learning boundaries and how to have them withstand scrutiny, basically defending my heart, that the delightful openness I felt would have been alarming if what I felt wasn’t so much like.. love? When I turned 30, one of my goals for this decade was to learn how to love like Paul and Jesus did. Theirs was not a doormat kind of love, no, they knew how and when to be firm. In fact, love without truth isn’t love at all. Could it be one can only love well if they aren’t looking to be filled themselves? That those who know when and where to draw the lines, love best?
simpLyxme 