A Prayer for Your Marriage (For a Season That Is Hard)
Marriages have quiet seasons and loud ones. This prayer is for the loud ones, and for the quiet ones that are lasting a bit long.
The prayer
Lord Jesus,
when we said our vows, we did not know all the years they would have to hold.
Come and hold them for us.
Give me the humility to say what I have not been saying.
Give my spouse the safety to say what they have not been saying.
Where a wound has been ignored, uncover it gently, and heal it.
Where affection has thinned, thicken it again.
Keep our marriage a place where each of us can find you.
Amen.
The verse behind it
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
When to say it
- On the anniversary you cannot pretend is easy.
- After the argument that will not resolve tonight.
- On the drive back from the counsellor.
Send it as a film
For an anniversary - the fifth, the twenty-fifth, the fiftieth - a short film of Jesus saying both your names is a keepsake worth keeping. A Message Written for Them.