Delight Yourself.

Today I read a blog by John Piper describing marriage as a self-seeking way to gain joy. Um what? Over the past year I've viewed marriage as anything but self-seeking. I've tried time and time again to pour out myself and deny myself to better serve my husband. And of course the reason that hard times come is that we are selfish people.

Yet, John Piper argues that our selfishness need not create a troublesome marriage. In fact, it ought to create a delightful one.

Us being selfish means us seeking our own desires. And our own desires are happiness, love, comfort, etc. {all things considered in a Christian walk}.

But how can we fulfill these desires? How can we feel loved or comforted by our spouse? By pleasing them. Pleasing and delighting one another is ultimately pleasing and delighting ourselves. By serving our spouses we may be denying ourselves temporarily, but we are gaining a more joyful and loving marriage overall.

All this to say, sometimes marriage can feel a bit one-sided. We may feel like we're giving up so much or sacrificing so much for our spouse. But in doing this, we're ultimately gaining so much for ourselves. By delighting our spouses we are delighting ourselves.

And what is more, is that this is what GOD delights in! For us to seek pleasure for our spouses and also gain pleasure for ourselves, is glorifying to God. He wants us to find marriage joyful and sanctifying.

So all you married people out there, go delight yourself :)

Ephesians 5
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."

a house is not a home

...until you've lived in it at least 2 months. Today marks TWO months of home ownership for me and Matthew :) Even after 2 months, we're still adjusting to the ups and downs of owning a home. First of all: nonstop cleaning. There is always something to clean. Maybe that's because our ridiculous border collie has free reign around the house. But nonetheless, it's a lot more work than our little one bedroom apartment.

New additions to our living room!

 Brody causing trouble on the couch.

Brody causing trouble on our bed.

Brody causing trouble in the man cave.

Brody causing trouble by the back door.

Second of all: My eyes are bigger than my stomach. I just want to buy everything to make our house purdy!! But our wallets are pretty shallow. Our financial position in buying a house did not calculate in all the fun decorative items I see at Home Goods. Funny enough, it did include a budget for a home theater projector. {Matt's pretty proud of his man cave}.

Third of all: Why is our yard 80% weeds and 20% grass. Before we moved in it was grass. And now it is weeds. How does that happen??

But, all this to say, our house most feels like a home because of the people that make it that way. We had a housewarming party last month and it was such a blessing to see all who have supported us through this transition. That is our biggest prayer for this house. Is that it would be a place for people to come and experience life with us and feel the love of God in our home.

I think we're well on our way to seeing that prayer answered :)

P.S. On an unrelated note, I dyed my hair for the first time!! I'm half blonde!