Iron Sharpens Iron

MARRIAGE ON PURPOSE


EXCERPT:
“A great Italian Psychiatrist, Roberto Assagioli, wrote a parable about three fourteenth-century stonecutters who were working on a large cathedral. When the first stonecutter was asked what he was doing, he replied that he was cutting stones into blocks. When the second stonecutter was asked the same question, he said that he was earning a living for his beloved family. The third cutter’s reply stopped the interview cold. In a joyous voice he told of the privilege of participating in the construction of a great cathedral that would stand as a holy lighthouse for thousands of years. The same menial task... but three different meanings assigned to it by three different men. “ Lifemates pg. 54

REFLECTION:
What a great illustration on perspective! Which of those three stonecutters represents how you view your marriage today, right now?
How easily we can forget and abandon the third cutters perspective, the God perspective!

The Bible nails it with Proverbs 29:18 “Without vision the people perish”
Without vision, without a bigger understanding of why you woke up to your wife and kids today, you will eventually grow weary, if not already and it will only be a matter of time till you throw in the towel or settle for “survival”.

CHALLENGE:
You want to freak your wife out, want to breathe life into dry bones, want to move from simply cutting blocks to building a great cathedral... make some time this week for you and your woman to sit down and do some brainstorming. In one or two sentences, try to summarize the purpose of your marriage, the reason you exist as “us”.
In addition, paint a word picture of what you guys want that cathedral to look like in 20, 40, 200 years from now. Remember your marriage lives on for the good or bad in the lives of your kids even when you are long gone!

Here are some examples some couples came up with in Lifemates...
To Magnify God Together
To wisely develop and use our time, talents and resources to help others
To be parent our children come to for love, comfort and understanding
We exist to love consistently, to learn continually, to live courageously and to leave a legacy with God as out guide.


Trying make it a priority to work on it this week because next week we will look at the priorities that need to surround your purpose.

Blessings, Rob