Greater Joy TWOgetherUkázka

Enjoying Life Together

Most marriages start with two people enjoying life together. So when someone tells me, “I’m not happy in my marriage,” I hear, “We don’t have what we once did.”

I am not one to respond with, “Marriage isn’t about your happiness,” or “Marriage is hard … deal with it.” I would rather paint a beautiful picture of marriage, point the couple in the direction of marital satisfaction, and provide practical steps toward enjoying greater joy together.

“What God has joined together, let no one separate,” we read in Matthew 19:6. Separation can come in many forms, including a slow drift apart from the joy you once shared.

The seasons of life change us. Jobs, age, health struggles, pandemics, social unrest, and tragedy all contribute to this change. Some marriage experts believe that over the course of your marriage, it will seem like you have been married to five to seven different people.

Drift sneaks in when we stop enjoying life together. Enjoying life together requires that you do not turn your spouse into the grind but rather turn to your spouse through the grind as you live in curiosity and fascination with the changes you see in each other.

In other words, marital satisfaction is a choice, not an outcome. It is based on decisions, factors, and skills that couples can do something about in any season of life. You decide your way into marital satisfaction or else you drift from it. Those are the only two options.

I pray this devotional sparks renewed joy, commitment, and spiritual discipline in your marriage. If you once read the Bible together and prayed together but now are in drift, there’s no better time than the present to restart those practices. Prioritizing prayer will bring you closer together and pave the way for God to work in your life and relationship. Use the following prayer (and the other daily prayers this week) as a jumping-off point.

Father, our desire is to glorify and enjoy you forever. We also want to enjoy each other. We will not allow the seasons and stages of life to determine our joy. We choose joy because we choose you and each other. Thank you for our marriage and for giving us one another to go through each season and stage of life with. We love you, and it is in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.