Do you ever have a perfect moments? Not a perfect life, because no one has one of those, but just a moment. A moment rocking on the front porch with your spouse talking about whatever is on your minds? A moment when it wasn’t about money or difficulties? It wasn’t about the children or logistics for navigating life with only one car? It was just enjoyable? I had one.
Two people who are one as husband and wife sitting on the front porch, rocking and talking and laughing – enjoying each other’s company. It was a moment when the birds chirped, cars “vroomed” by and the crickets made whatever sound they make together in a beautiful chorus as the background music to my perfect moment. It was in that moment that I admitted this was how I’d imagined our lives together: babies asleep, us rocking and talking while I sipped a delicious red blend.
I often long for these moments. Unfortunately, they happen less frequently than they should. My sin gets in the way. We have such a clear calling. Peter commands us, “By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again – not of perishable but imperishable – through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:22-23). I realize this is not a verse specifically about marriage, but my husband is my brother in Christ. That makes some of you wiggle a little in your seats, but just hang with me for a moment. We are one family in the Lord and Christ is our head, the Cornerstone. Peter gets into the order of marriage in chapter three, so right now let’s just talk about what he says here.
Called to obedience to the truth – doing what the Lord calls good – can be overwhelming. But Peter tells us specifically how to do that here: have sincere love for the brothers from a pure heart. Sincerely – genuinely, honestly – love your spouse. In this small moment on my porch, we loved each other purely and sincerely. The pure hearts that we were able to love each other from were gifted to us by our Father in heaven. He removed our hearts of stone and gave us hearts of flesh. We were graciously redeemed by the blood of the Lord so that we can live in obedience to Him. So, in this small moment, rocking and listening to the music that our good Father allowed us to enjoy on the front porch, we loved each other well.
How have you seen love flow from your pure heart in small moments?
From the Altar to Forever 