50/50

A simple thought that has been on my mind a lot lately.

I know a lot of married people. And, to me, there is hardly anything sweeter than seeing a good, strong, loving marriage.

How does a marriage like that come to be?

It must be that they have mastered the perfect 50/50 plan, right? They each give 50% and meet each other halfway on everything.

No.

That is not how a good marriage works.

For a marriage to be healthy, the spouses better be striving for the 100/100 plan.

I'll be the first to admit that I am incapable of giving 100%. I may do alright in some areas some of the time. But, I am a selfish, sinful person. I am.

But, in order to truly LOVE my husband, I try to give 100%. I never think "I will give 50% and he better meet me half way with his 50%".

Mathematically, it doesn't work.

When I am striving for 100%, I probably achieve a "B" average. Somewhere in the 80% range. So, what if I was striving for 50%? I'd maybe get to 40%. That leaves a big gap, doesn't it?

We would never meet halfway.

And, meanwhile, it is usually much easier to "grade" my spouses efforts than my own. In other words, I might feel that I met or even exceeded my 50%, but I would likely see my spouses grade a bit lower.

I guess when 1 Corinthians mentions that love "does not keep score" that was good advice.

I am just so blessed beyond my wildest expectations in my marriage. As we both strive to show our love in a 100% A+ fashion, we are serving each other before ourselves.

Being in a relationship like this really does give me a glimpse of the kind of love there must be in the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Imagine that.

In that relationship, all they do is serve each other and love each other completely all the time in an perfect, unbreakable bond! Imagine how beautiful that is.

I believe that God created marriage as a glimpse into that kind of love.

I fall short all the time. But I am so thankful to have this relationship and the model that God set for loving and serving each other.