This love is special. This love is eternal.
This week in the Dispatch:
More Trivia Questions in Quick Hits!
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” in books
The Awesome Marriage Podcast looks at Being “Prickly”
A YouVersion plan to jump start your marriage!
The final “essentials” of our Marriage Formula
Three really challenging Challenges!
A Next Step that will literally change everything for you!
This Week’s Quick Hits:
You like trivia? Well, here are a few more questions for you.
What is the rarest M&M color?
In what year were the first Air Jordan sneakers released?
Samuel Tilden, Grover Cleveland, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton share what distinction among U.S. presidential candidates?
Which singer’s real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta?
Where were the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights stored during World War II?
Book:
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
The amazing book came out at the end of 2019, but I did not discover it until the end of 2020. I think I will blame COVID for that! I listen to most books on Audible, and with this book there were pros and cons to that. In the physical book, you see the amazing illustrations that go along with the story. On the audio recording, I felt like Charlie Mackesy was telling me the story and adding commentary that brought the illustrations to life. Either way, don’t miss this. It is a book of inspiration and hope through the shared adventure and conversations of these four unlikely companions. It is a book for every age. It’s a book for today.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the mole.
“Kind,” said the boy.
YouVersion Plan:
One Thing To Grow Your Marriage Each Day is our featured Awesome Marriage YouVersion plan for this week. Each Monday through Friday, over 125,000 couples get our One Thing email. It is a simple way to be intentional and positive about your marriage each day. This 31-day YouVersion plan is a great way to begin growing your marriage. At the end of the 31 days, I know your marriage will be better and I am almost certain you will want to continue your growth by subscribing to the daily One Thing Email.
Podcasts:
The Awesome Marriage Podcast is back after our winter break. Life and marriage have been more difficult because of the intense things our country and world went through last year and continue to go through. It seems like we are all still on edge and with that, I think we are all a little extra vulnerable, emotional, and defensive. I think all this anxiety and angst has made us quite “prickly.” Because we’ve felt the sharp pain of metaphorical pins and needles, in many ways we are now walking around unintentionally hurting those around us with our prickliness - just like a porcupine. In this podcast we talk about prickliness, help you evaluate whether you’ve been a little prickly and most importantly, help you work through it.
Insights
The Marriage Formula - Part 3
Two weeks ago, we looked at two positive things that need to be in our Marriage Formula and last week we looked at four things that never should be a part of a marriage formula. Let’s end this short series on the positive side.
Do you know what a scorekeeper is? In the sports world, it is the person who keeps track of everything that goes on in a game. Take basketball. The scorekeeper records the score, who scores, who fouls, who is in the game, who is not in the game, how many time outs have been called and everything in between. At the end of the game, the scorekeeper’s book tells the story of the game. Their work is essential to the game of basketball.
What if someone wrote down every bad, wrong, careless and stupid thing you did or said in your marriage? Personally, I would never want that. Would you? What if that scorekeeper was your spouse? What if they wrote it in permanent ink because they never wanted to forget all the things you did and said? More than that, they never wanted you to forget. Unfortunately, I have seen it happen way too often in way too many marriages over the years. There may not be the literal pen and paper list but the score is written in their mind in a place they can quickly access.
The bottom line: Scorekeeping in basketball is essential and it works. Scorekeeping in marriage is deadly and it never works. You see, in marriage there is something far more important than scorekeeping: Forgiveness. It is an essential part of our Marriage Formula because it keeps no record of wrongs.
Let’s look quickly at four essentials in our Marriage Formula: Protect, trust, hope, and persevere. Protect. As a husband it is built in me to protect my family from known and unknown enemies. I want them to feel safe with me. I want them to know that I will do everything I can to protect them. Trust. A marriage without trust is on its way to the divorce court. Trust is essential. If you have it in your marriage, cherish it. Hold it dear and never betray it. If it has been broken, fix it. Start today. Hope. Wherever your marriage is today, there is hope. It can be better. It can get better. We follow a God who can heal and is about miracles. No matter where your marriage is today, there is the hope of what God will do tomorrow. Persevere. When I made vows to Nancy, I pledged myself to her for as long as I would live. Making it from the altar to the grave takes work. Yet for those of us who persevere, there is no more rewarding relationship in this life than the marriage relationship (other than our relationship with Christ).
We are almost there! Let’s add one final essential. Love never fails. Let me say this again, “Love never fails!” For me this is a “wow” because I thought everything failed. Look around you at all the things we put our trust in that have failed: banks, the stock market, airplanes, cars, weather reports, people, food, corporations, pastors, churches, husbands, wives, children - get the idea? We can see failure everywhere we turn but “love never fails.” How is that possible? Don’t relationships end and marriages fail? Is that love? Well, yes. But not the kind of love we are talking about here. This love is special. This love is eternal. This love is what our Marriage Formula is all about. This love is God. That is it. Because God is love, He is love in a way that we cannot begin to fathom. But as we open ourselves up to His love He begins to teach us how to love others. When we experience His eternal love for us we learn how to pass it on. That is this Marriage Formula we have been talking about. That is the formula that will give you an Awesome Marriage!
Challenge:
Are you a scorekeeper? What if you let go of that and instead replaced it with forgiveness? What would that do for your marriage? What would that do for your heart?
Where are you with these four ingredients: Protect, trust, hope, and persevere. Are they in your marriage today? If they are, what are you doing to keep them strong? If they are not, what do you need to do to put them in your marriage?
What difference does the truth that God is love make in your life and marriage?
Next Step:
Have you opened yourself up to God’s love? Have you embraced the love that does not fail? If not, this can be your day. You don’t have to do anything. You can come just as you are. He is waiting for you. He will change your life, your marriage, and all your relationships. If you are ready to take that step today and we can help in any way, email me at drkim@awesomemarriage.com. It is the most important decision you will ever make.
Answers to Trivia:
Brown is the rarest M&M color.
They were released in 1984.
They won the popular vote but lost the electoral college vote.
Lady Gaga.
They were stored at Fort Knox.
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