I currently finished Eugene Peterson's book, Under the Unpredictable Plant, for probably the fourth time. In it I discovered a section that I hadn't underlined before. The context is how messy ministry is, but his analogy from the experience of marriage is powerful in its own right.
"Lovers quarrel, hurt and get hurt, misunderstand and are misunderstood in their painstaking work of creating a marriage: apologize and explain, listen and wait, rush forward and pull back, desire and sacrifice as love receives its slow incarnation in flesh and spirit. In any creative enterprise there are risks, mistakes, false starts, failures, frustrations, embarrassments, but out of this mess--when we stay with it long enough, enter it deeply enough--there slowly emerges love or beauty or peace."
What a deep joy for me to know, by experience, the truth of these words. Sharon and I are approaching our 33rd anniversary. Our marriage, like most, has been messy and challenging and a lot of hard work. It has also been full of amazing, deep and abiding love, "the slow incarnation in flesh and spirit." Daily we commit to staying with it long enough and entering it deeply enough to be there as love emerges. My prayer is that more and more couples, especially those who know Jesus, will also learn the joy within the mess.
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