On Marriage
This past weekend I was privileged to officiate the marriage of my nephew and his beautiful wife. I wrote a poem to express the things that I have found to be important in an enduring marriage. A marriage will have some troubles and challenges, but when God is your strength and glue it can withstand the trials. When we place God at the center of marriage, just as the three stranded cord, it is stronger than the two stranded cord; it is not easily broken. It can last through tension, not breaking. When we build our house on solid bedrock, not sand, our home will not sink and vanish. So as we build our marriages on God, they will endure withstanding the storms.
On Marriage
Marriage is a like a three legged stool
God at the center is the golden rule
Otherwise, it cannot firmly stand
It will collapse with nowhere to land
Marriage is not just giving fifty percent
One hundred percent is what needs to be sent
Putting ourselves after the needs of the other
That's what it takes to love one another
Marriage is arms in arms being skin to skin
Conjugal intimacy is built from within
This closeness is what helps hearts to blend
If not, it's just hollow motions and notions, all pretend
Marriage is to cherish and honor with a gentle touch
It is to this love and acceptance that we clutch
When we acknowledge and feel the other's pain,
Empathy and validation become the foremost gain
Marriage is to be placed first, with God only above
This connubial model is a gift of love
Lasting bonds form a strong steadfast union
Then our allegiance will never know any confusion
Marriage is with God as it does first begin
With Him at the center it will endure to the end
Our vows and promises were not meant to bend
This is the marital message God wants to send
Amen
-- Dr. Rhonda Milner
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another."
Romans 12:9-16a
"It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights."
Psalms 18:32-33
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Mathew 7:24-27
"Love never fails."
1 Corinthians 13:8a