Corbin semi-coerced me into watching Twilight with him today to poke fun at it together. It was so cringy, the CGI was so bad, I had to walk out of the room. Apart from the bad acting and unbelievability of it all, I was also annoyed with how sappy and, well, perfect, the romance is portrayed between Edward and Bella. Like, have the directors ever seen a real dating relationship before? (“No one even talks like that,” Corbin pointed out laughing.)
Because that’s not what true love is or looks like. Marriage, especially. Marriage is a commitment, a decision to sacrifice and love even when you don’t feel like it, or when the other person isn’t beautiful or always there or perfect. Marriage is
cleaning the stove on a Wednesday night; doing laundry for the 9000th time; sharing toothpaste; sitting in silence on the couch doing two separate things; having a domestic about where to put the sponge after doing dishes; picking up socks; disagreeing about how to spend the evening; scrubbing the olive oil off the wall and the pasta sauce off the microwave; walking to Walgreens together; sitting in hospital waiting rooms; holding hands while laying in bed; accidentally waking the other person up; praying about whatever; ordering toilet paper and shoes on Amazon for the other; being and doing and living every moment together even when you’re unhappy with the other; loving each other as Christ loves us, with fervency and grace and forgiveness and devotion and the happiest of joy.
It is a marathon. It is disappointing. It is delightful. It is life with your soul friend. It is mundane and ordinary and extraordinary.
It is nothing without Christ.
I know why it’s so easy to get swept up in the romance of a story like Twilight. Everybody yearns to be loved totally by another. But it isn’t real – the story doesn’t show the ugly and boring parts of a relationship, the parts that make it solid and true and lasting. The story doesn’t portray the forging of trust or the deepening of affection beyond teenage attraction and emotions.
I am happy for the story God is writing for me instead, and there is a story he is writing for you, too – with utmost joy through knowing Him. It may include a spouse, it may not, but do not be mislead by the dreamy lie that relationships and marriage are anything other than how the Lord lays it out.
T H I S W E E K
-I made a lemon cream pie and it’s the best! Hopefully a staple for me down the road.
-We’ve starting reading Mornings with Tozer together and it’s a great little devotional. I love reading with Corbin.
-I smelled a hint of autumn today when we took a walk to the library. It’s coming soon!
-Some of the best things in life are unremarkable. It is a Zoom call with old friends, lighting a candle that smells like fruit, clean laundry, and pizza.
