In Love?

Derek and I get asked quite a bit how married life is going. We typically say "good" and then smile (then there's an awkward silence where we're not really sure if we should elaborate or not) but it is going good and that's probably the response people are expecting. Plus how weird would it be if we said "oh just Awwwfulll"? Don't worry there haven't been any major breakdowns and it's not awful;) It goes especially well when Derek knows And remembers to do his husband-ly duties which include taking out the trash, getting my hair out of the shower drain, keeping his office clean, helping with dishes after meals and doing outside stuff. Oh, and not wearing more than 3 shirts in a day. I decided that laundry was getting a bit excessive so I had to put a limit on it. Who knew guys needed a different shirt for work, school, home and lounging around? 
In reality though sometimes I feel like when people ask us how married life is going they're really asking "are you still in love?". It's like they're trying to look deep into our souls and gauge whether it was worth it to bridge the gap between dating and marriage. Maybe they're scared the butterflies will go away. Maybe they've seen too many marriages go stale. To that I would answer that staying in love isn't the first task of marriage, it's the happy (maybe sappy) overflow of covenant keeping for the glory of God. In John Piper's book This Momentary Marriage he says keeping first things first makes second things better. If the main goal in marriage for the next 50 years was to stay perfectly, over the top, butterflies in love it would probably get very emotionally tiring very quick. But oh the joy of representing Christ's commited relationship with the church through our marriage! And the joy of glorifying Christ through our actions toward each other. When you keep first things first, I truly believe there is an overflow of sweet love. 

Fall hayrack ride with this great guy:-)