Loving the Stranger of the Future

Imagine traveling ten years into the future, opening the front door of your house, and seeing your spouse. I guarantee you one thing: the person you will find there is not exactly the same one you married. The wrinkles will be a little deeper, priorities will have shifted, patience might have stretched (or shrunk!) because of kids, jobs, or just life. The truth nobody tells us at the altar is that, over the years, we all become strangers of the future.

And that is the problem with basing our marriage on how we feel on our wedding day. When we are dressed in a tuxedo and a white dress, we swear eternal love based on how great we feel in that single moment. But marriage vows are not a weather report of today's emotions. They are an unbreakable promise about the actions we are going to take tomorrow, when we don't feel so deeply in love.

Think of it this way: vows are like that bright orange life jacket under your airplane seat. Nobody puts it on while enjoying the flight, eating peanuts, and watching a movie. But when severe turbulence hits, that life jacket is the only thing keeping us afloat. There will be seasons in your relationship where romantic feelings temporarily shipwreck under the weight of diapers, debt, or work stress.