Sunlight

Has anyone else noticed the little patch of spring Indiana has orbitted into recently? (Yes, orbitted. It's legit.) I throw open the curtains, and inch the windows up and breathe it in. And then I notice the dust and cobwebs that have sat unattended through this gray winter.

I've never observed Lent. To be honest, I've never really understood it. But reading Mrs. Voskamp's take on it (here) has opened my eyes some. And it appears to me, to simply be a making room inside one's life for the Glorious.

We're told that marriage is an image of Christ and the church. Such a lovely concept - ideally we think of it the way we like to think of pictures of Jesus - clean, gently holding some small animal. Not working, sweating, dying to bring us life.

But I think spring, and Lent, and marriage are all multiple facets of the same coin. Because in marriage, generally at the most inconvenient time (2 am Friday morning), your partner shines their sunlight into the dark corners of your personality to illuminate your cobwebs. A gloriously freeing experience once one gets over the intense irritation of not always being right. And then you have to clean, and make room for your partner's love, because you want to shelter it in a clean, inviting place. And when I have to do this really practically with Paul, I'm reminded that this is what my Abba does, too. He shines His Light into me, and inspires a a renewal.

So last night, over stir fry, sitting at the bar rail at Flat Top, we asked each other these illuminating questions.

What do you want in life?
What do you want for your spouse?
What do we want for our marriage?

Some of my answers, some of his answers, surprised me. But what amazed me most was how in sync our ideas were. To see after three years how our God has knit our hearts together into one. And as we wrote these ideas down, we found a new direction, a new spring.