A Little about Marriage

I know a little about marriage

I guess it’s about time

For having been married 43 years

I must be the marrying kind.

 

I guess given this statistic

You may say I am very slow

But the longer one stays married

There is so much to know.

 

Being a slow learner, therefore,

Is a great advantage for me

For every year I spend with Lyn

Is a collage of history.

 

 

Of myriad bits and pieces

That we are piecing together

Of constantly pleasing one another

And sometimes being a bother.

 

Tensions in our daily lives

Trying to find the right balance

That makes for a meaningful union

Given our deficits and talents.

 

Managing our daily affairs

And choosing the right fights,

Settling them during the daytime

And having fight-free nights.

 

Instructive in this endeavour

Is Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26:

Let not nighttime find you still angry,

In the daytime find a fix.

 

Try not to carry seething anger

Into the following day

For when this becomes the norm

You’ve definitely lost your way.

 

Here are three solid pointers

That have helped me a lot,

You’ll find two of them in the Bible

And the third hits the spot.

 

 

The first one is to leave:

Leave your father and mother;

Leave also your single life behind

And this is a critical matter.

 

Cleave to your wedded spouse,

That one is enough for you,

In that one you have all your trouble;

It’s considerably less than two.

 

Weave God into the fabric:

The fabric of your marriage life

And if not all, I guarantee you will

Avoid most of marital strife.

 

I am no marriage expert

And indeed, I never intend to be,

There’s much to learn in marriage

And much I am yet to see.

 

The same advice I give to you

I’m struggling to take myself

But I do know it’s the best medicine

To guarantee marital health.

 

Thanks to Pastor Winfield Forde

For inspiring this poem,

His advice to leave, cleave and weave

Will keep your marriage going.

 

 

 

Draw your marital triangle

Letting God be at the apex

And as you both draw closer to Him

Your marriage will be fixed.

 

That’s my little about marriage,

I repeat, I am no expert

But from this anyone should see

Marriage entails hard work.

 

Stewart Russell © September 10, 2024