Marriage is beautiful. Marriage is hard. And it's one of those things that you can *think* you understand but until you've found yourself deep within it, you really don't. It brings joy like nothing else you've likely experienced before and at the same time, you'll have moments when your heart just aches in ways you didn't know it could. It reveals how ugly and selfish and heavily burdened humans can be. It challenges us to be patient, to be gracious, to love unconditionally, and to forgive in the same way that Christ forgave first. It brings out the worst, but it also brings out the best.

Why am I sharing all of this? Because I was reminded of it this evening while I wandered through Creation with two of my dearest friends, who also happen to be husband and wife. Doing life together is weird and wonderful all at once. Sometimes you're together and everyone cries, and sometimes everyone laughs, and sometimes everyone has nothing to say. But you're there, together, doing your best to tackle life's brightest and darkest moments. That's what I [we] share with Josh and Amy, and as I reflect back on the past few years that we've all spent together in friendship, my heart swells in the best way. Strife, frustration, hurt - those things aren't lost on them. But they're here, showing up every day, doing the work to LOVE FIERCELY. No matter what.

That's marriage. That's relationship.
And that's what I love, love, love about these kinds of moments and the honor that it is for me to share in them.