Vows

This is a post mainly for those of you who are married or planning to enter into matrimony soon.

I've always liked the idea of hanging our wedding vows on the wall next to one of our wedding pictures.  Many artsy-crafty types do this in their home, and it usually looks quite nice.  Once we move,  I may make it a project.  For now though, I wanted to share another idea of what you can do with your vows.

Before I was married, a wise woman (to be honest, I don't remember who she was, but I think she must've been wise for recommending this to me) suggested that I read my wedding vows daily.  I think she had a few good reasons, but somehow I wasn't compelled to take her advice.

Not until now, that is...

You see, I recently found the wedding vows that I wrote to Hugh when I was sorting through my desk trying to pack the disheveled mess into boxes for our upcoming move.  They were still on the original yellow notecards, and when I glanced back through them, the words were so rich.  Not in the sense of -wow, I was such a good writer-  no, not in that way at all.  Rather though, as I read back through them I realized how much I had used the Word of God in writing my vows, and I was reminded of what the Word says about wives.  It was like I was re-reading how I had envisioned  applying what the Scriptures say about marriage to myself as a wife.  Well, let's just say that that was so convicting to me since now I can see where I often fall short.

So I have stuck those little jewels into my memorization box (more on that later) so that I can review them everyday and set my mind on how to be a godly wife and the promises that I made to Hugh before my friends, family, and God.  I most definitely have not become a perfect wife through this, but it has been such a help to me in many ways.

I should point out that Hugh and I took quite a bit of time to write our vows so that they would be meaningful.  That time was definitely well spent in pondering marriage and roles and God's design.  If you have vows that are similarly special/meaningful, I'd encourage you to begin reviewing them daily along with me.  I'm pretty sure it's only going to bless your marriage, if they're good vows.  :)  And it only takes a few minutes to read them and be mindful of areas that you need to sharpen yourself in for the upcoming day.  That's what I mean by good vows, they should be promises that stretch you, help your spouse, and work toward making you both more Christ-like.

If you didn't write your own vows when you got married (or if you want to give your old ones some freshening up), now's the time.  Why not give it a try?  I recommend picking a few key passages about marriage to study and vision-cast from.  I also included part of Philippians 2 in mine because God has really used that passage in my life to show me Christ's humility and servant-heart (and thus my call to be the same, especially in marriage).  Another good idea would be to add personal details about you or your spouse (for example, Hugh promised me that he would never yell at me because he knew that was one thing to which I was extremely sensitive).

I hope to eventually have my vows to Hugh memorized, but even then I plan to continue reviewing them daily and trying to apply them in my role as a godly wife.  For me, this is just one more way that I can work toward making our marriage last... and thrive.  :)