Re-blogged: being a wife

Here's a link I read today and thought it was worth passing on (HT: Amy). I don't have time to summarize it for you or tell you what I think about it, but if you're a wife or interested in being one, you might like to read it. Here's some excerpts:

When brides are preparing to wed, the lion's share of time and attention is spent focused on the wedding day: the dress, the flowers, the food, the colors, you name it. It's all about our "big day." We view our wedding day as the culmination of a beautiful romance. All that's missing is for the preacher to end the ceremony with these words: AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER... and then reality rears its ugly head. It was all a big hoax. Not really, but when we're not prepared to be wives instead of simply brides, it can feel that way.

Everything about our culture encourages us to view marriage as the end of journey. Marriage is either the apex of happiness or the beginning of the end, depending on which narrative we buy into. We teach young women to expect happily ever after and young men to believe that marriage is something you do after you're done having fun.

It's that transition from falling in love to living in love and it's one that many couples never make, hence high divorce rates, even in the church. We've relegated love to a feeling, beyond our control rather than what it truly is, a choice.