Life in the Pits and Peaks

Jeff and I just co-taught and opened a marriage series at church Sunday. As part of the message we mentioned an aside about how we have been married for just about 12 years and celebrate 9 years of “marital bliss.” The first time I heard something like this was from my best friend’s mom. On her 25th wedding anniversary she said, “Yup! We are celebrating 20 years of marital bliss.”  At the time I was shocked. I was newly married and a thought that was so mean to joke about. So with a little nervous laughter I said, “What!? wait… That’s so sad!”

She laughed back and said, “No it’s not! It is real life! You have to account for all those really tough months and years in there somewhere, it’s not all bliss.”

And HOW RIGHT I found her wisdom to be.  Now I look at it and think that by her ratio, even if it was meant to be a joke, she has had and still has a rockstar marriage! Only 5 bad years? kudos to them, and they are still married and going strong all these years later.

Weather you are married or single, there is an ebb and flow to life. Not quite a rollercoaster, but I like to view life as parallel tracks running side by side and interweaving. We have a track for each area of our life: relationships, work, family, romance, identity, achievement, religion, and whatever else you can think of.  Sometimes the work track is sky high and running smoothly while at the same time the family track is taking a dive and the wheels are almost falling off. Other times our relationships are great, but we keep running into obstacles and blockades in finances. Life can be amazing, challenging, and devastating all at the same time- that is the crazy part about being human!

This morning I read the verse John 16:33- ““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (NIV). There have been many seasons in my life I look back on and think, “how did I get through that?!” Weather it was a traumatic event, a super busy season, life transition, or just the amount of garbage I had to lead through, something has always sustained me and kept me going. One of those times was the two year span where our family grew from 0 to 4 kids in 24 months. When people ask me, “how did you do it?” I genuinely, but light-heartedly say, “A lot of prayer, a lot of help, and a lot of Jesus!”But honestly, little miracles took place to provide what we needed for our family growth, relatives and friends filled gaps, and I had to say “yes” to a lot of help, which was kind of humbling at the time. And while I may say it in a light hearted way, I really do believe it was “a lot of help and Jesus” that sustained me, Jeff, and our marriage in that time. It was not easy and I didn’t even know which way was up or down half of the days- but there was a way, and I simply walked in it the best I could. I still failed many of these days to be joyful or choose peace, but I did do the best I could to follow Jesus in the daily grind. I still try to make that my aim: choose Jesus and his peace and rest over anything else. That is not an easy task, but it is one worth working toward.

So wherever we are in our life- pit, peak, or both at the same time, I hope that we can all lean into the hope that we have a Savior who has overcome and gives us His Spirit to still overcome daily things we are walking through.