Works in progress

I went out for coffee with a few girlfriends last night to celebrate a friend who is about to have a baby (a little tradition of ours now before new babies are born:). All of a sudden, one of the girls came out with this Incredibly Profound Monologue about what she’s been learning in her marriage over the past year. We were all a little speechless. And inspired.

Thought I’d share her beautiful thoughts.:)

We are all works in progress. We didn’t say “I do” to the man of our dreams, and vice versa! Hopefully, we said “I do” to the man of God’s dream for our lives, the man whose virtues and flaws alike are exactly the mix that our own soul needs to grow in holiness, through the grace of God.

I loved what my friend said about cooperating with God. They say that the goal of our vocation to marriage is to “help one another get to Heaven.” Part of that is cooperating with God in supporting his work in our spouse’s soul, and we do that by our self-sacrifice, our patience, our prayers, and our choice to love by doing the right thing–day in and day out.

In marriage, God says to us, “I gift you the precious gift of [your spouse]. He is a work in progress, and you assist my work in his soul by persevering in your vocation with faith, hope and love.”

Wow. Right?

What if success in  marriage is more about becoming the right person than marrying the right person?