February 16 The Engine of
Marriage
Ever notice it’s easier to love
someone outside your home than to love spouse and children whose faults you
know so well?
C.S. Lewis: “Whatever people say, the state called ‘being
in love’ usually does not last…. But of course, ceasing to be ‘in love’ need
not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense—love as distinct from
‘being in love’ is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the
will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both
parents ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even
at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even
when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would
easily, if they allowed themselves, be ‘in love’ with someone else. ‘Being in
love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to
keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being
in love was the explosion that started it.”
(“Mere Christianity” in “For All the Saints” I, 271f.)
CTRL+ALT+DEL: Spirit of God,
help our love be the love of Christ who lives in us. Amen.
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