#beintentional

I'm definitely still on a wedding-high, but there's been a reality to my marriage in the past month that I'm not sure I would have noticed in my "younger" years. I always heard that the first year of marriage was hard. And I had married friends tell me that it was true. Charlie and I had to do a few months of pre-marital counseling and holy cow am I grateful for that. The pre-marital counseling sparked conversations between the two of us that definitely wouldn't have happened had we not done the counseling. One of the biggest things Charlie and I talked about was what we wanted from each other in our marriage and how we didn't want to be a statistic...we wouldn't let our marriage fail. In a time that so many relationships fail, we knew that we couldn't just have a mediocre friendship and love. We knew we would have to "step it up" when it came to our relationship. Thus the term #beintentional came about in our relationship.
No one accidentally stays married for sixty years. No one accidentally falls in love. It's a choice. You choose to forgive. You choose to go on dates. You choose to put each other first. You choose to have the tough conversations. You choose to make things work, every.single.day. Charlie pointed out to me last night that it's much like being a Christian..no one accidentally becomes a follower of Christ. It's a choice. And you don't just accidentally "stay" being a Christian...you work at it. You read His Word. You study it. You choose to live it.
I don't know what being in love forever looks like for other people. All I know is what Charlie and I have decided to do in our marriage. And yes, we're rookies at this. But just like being a Christian, it is something that we're going to have to work at, study, and learn every single day.
For us, #beingintentional means planning date nights for each other. It means doing devotionals together. It means talking..a lot. It means putting down the phone, turning off the TV, closing the book, and learning about each other over and over. It means going on bike rides together. It means playing tennis as a family. It means trusting each other and knowing that we have each other's back in life. It means working towards the goals we've set for our family. It means sticking to a budget. It means putting Christ first, each other second. It means really really really trying.
I look forward to falling in love with my husband over and over. I can't wait to see what forever looks like for us.