Newlywed Bliss

Maybe times and people have changed a lot since this phrase was coined. Maybe at some point there was such a thing as "newlywed bliss." Two people madly in love had a beautiful wedding and a romantic honeymoon and then settled down to the first year of their marriage like two charming lovebirds in a cozy little nest and lapped up the minutes of heaven until their first anniversary tolled. Then they ate the nasty, freezer-burned top tier of their wedding cake and had their first fight.

That's the scene our society foretells for each happy couple today. Only it isn't true. On your wedding day your guests give you knowing grins and say, "Enjoy the honeymoon phase while it lasts because this is the best part of your marriage." Of course they were only teasing, right? Well, teasing or not, you laugh it off only to find yourself just a week after that fateful wedding reception saying, "This is the best part? WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

The truth is, newlyweds spend the first year or longer of their marriage reconciling themselves to the "mistake" they've made. It's a simple thing called GETTING MARRIED and it is the easiest thing in the world to do, not to mention downright thrilling, and the hardest thing to live with after it's done. I'm not saying marriage is bad. I'm a hard-headed Christian and I don't believe anything without believing it with all my guts. And I believe marriage is God's primary means of revealing His nature to mankind, if we actually fulfill our vows to one another. Divorce, likewise, is equally revelatory, in that it shows how destructive and desolate life is when we turn away from God (because an ended marriage destroys your whole life and mirrors what one's life is like without God). That being explained, I defend myself against anyone who might read this and think I have a negative attitude toward marriage. I don't. I have a negative attitude toward our society that teaches that if marriage isn't ultra-satisfying from the beginning you made a mistake.