Marriage is a sacred institution, put in place by God, to bring joy and companionship to couples. At the same time, marriage is hard and is comprised of different seasons. I sat with a young couple this afternoon who have been married for few years. Life seemed to be moving along pretty well without too many complications. But then they had a baby. Now, all of their time alone together has blown up, and as those of you who have children know, some days you feel as though you are just gutting it out. But who do you let in to your crazy world?
Regardless of our stage of life, we have the ability to influence others as well as be influenced by others. And this is critical for married couples to understand. For example – you may have had a blow up with our spouse last night and today you are unloading on your best girlfriend about what a jerk your husband was last night. She takes it all in and then she says ___________? Some might respond by saying, “He sounds like a jerk. You should definitely dump him. But is that really what you should do?
Or perhaps you commiserate with another friend about the same issue, and that friend encourages you with words of healing and alternate perspectives that open your eyes to new possibilities that you hadn’t considered before.
The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:33 – “Bad company corrupts good character.” It is incumbent on us to work to make our marriages as strong as we can, and one of the ways that we do this is watching who we allow to come through our gate. You might ask yourself, “Is this person’s influence going to support marriage or will it undermine it. Similarly, will the time I spend with someone struggling in their marriage, be supportive or detrimental to them.
Marriages are precious and in a world that frequently doesn’t seem to support marriage as a God given gift, it is more important than ever that we surround ourselves with individuals that will support us in having a God honoring marriage. Some season are difficult, and we need our friends and all the support we can get or give.