Marriage. Some love it, some hate it. I’m convinced it’s incredibly underrated, and I think statistics would agree with me.
But all the best things can go awfully wrong. Shawn Smith understands this, and I’ve reviewed his book which tries to help men date well to marry well.
Some well-intended folks have tried to do the same. However, some things are helpful to know for marriage that don’t exactly apply in the dating phase.
I’m assuming that others have faced similar confusion, perhaps without knowing it. It might be our own fault for applying these truths to dating when they were meant for marriage. Give these two truths thought, but remember not to apply them directly to your dating situation:
1) Marriage is about commitment.
Amen! But the point of dating is to figure out *if* you’re going to commit to someone. I know there’s a phase before engagement where you have a certain degree of exclusivity. But this commitment is not the same as marital commitment.
So if you’re dating and things aren’t going so well, take heart. You’re not committed yet, and you are totally free to feel like this relationship isn’t for you. In fact, if you feel that way, I wouldn’t hesitate. Pray, think, get wisdom, and act. You may save yourself and your boyfriend/girlfriend considerable heartbreak.
2) Marriage is for your holiness, not your happiness.
If you’re not a Christian, you could replace “holiness” with some kind of personal growth and maturity, though admittedly that’s underplaying how significant holiness is to the Christian. But nonetheless, it’s a beautiful fact that marriage matures and enhances us as human beings.
However, to the dating individual, this phrase can be misleading. A good marriage should lead to happiness if there is quality intimacy and commitment. But, sure, when two people are married and the going gets tough, they need to hear that relationships are hard and that it’s not all about them and how they feel. Every marriage will prove difficult, and the difficult times should bring you closer.
But when you’re dating and things are constantly hard, the dating person should stop and think: “why is this so hard? Should it be? What might this be suggesting?” It’s possible that the difficulty you are facing is totally normal or at least nothing unusual. But it’s also possible that such a difficulty might mean you need to rethink the relationship. Again, this is the time to have your eyes wide open and ask the hard questions about a relationship that could lead to marriage… but perhaps shouldn’t.
I say these things because of the very unique stage that dating is. You’re usually infatuated, at least for the first 12-18 months, which means your neurochemistry is completely whack and you’re blind to flaws of your significant other and your relationship with them. That’s why the above truths that are so helpful to marriage aren’t always helpful when you’re trying to figure out if the two of you are marriage material.
So time to rethink. Yes, marriage is about commitment. Yes, my marriage will not always be a happy one. But what do these hard times mean? Is there something I’m missing? Who can help me keep things clear?
Keep thinking. Scary though it might be!
