That Four-Letter Word

This month the hubby and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. We’ve been married what seems like forever and yet, sometimes it seems just like yesterday. When September 2nd rolls around, we reminisce about our wedding day and all the funny stories that went with it. I got two speeding tickets; the wedding cake was leaning; we shoved cake in each other’s faces; the brothers-in-law spilled punch on each other fighting over the garter. I could go on but mainly it was the hottest day in the history of the world!

Okay, maybe not. But it seemed like it in Texas. A whopping 103 degrees. My mother says all she remembers about our wedding was making lots of punch. Anytime we reminisce with people that attended they all say the same thing. “It was so hot!”

We were married in a little country church with a small A/C window unit. It didn’t help that we had all these candelabras in this tiny church with low ceilings. My brother-in-law, my sister’s husband, officiated and I think it may have been his first time. The hubby and I didn’t write our own vows or anything like that, but there was this one thing that I explicitly told my brother-in-law not to say. That 4-letter word – OBEY!

I wanted to make sure the hubby knew right up front that I was not going to OBEY him. He would not be the boss of me. No sir! I was an independent woman! I would love and honor in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, but I was not going to OBEY him! That 4-letter word used to be in the traditional wedding vows for the wife and I was having no part of it!

You know, God has a sense of humor. My brother-in-law stood in his three-piece suit amidst all of these flaming candles in that tiny country church crammed full of people with only the one A/C unit in the very back. He was so nervous, so hot, and probably ready to pass out, that he inadvertently asked if I would “love, honor, and OBEY till death do we part.”

What???

Guess what I said. Any clue? I said, “I do!” Now, most likely you’re rolling on the floor, laughing hysterically. Whenever I think about it I do. I was so adamant about that 4-letter word, about being an independent woman, and nobody’s gonna be the boss of me. I said, “I do!”

I did and I’m still doing!

By the way, it’s not easy.

I wish I could tell you that the hubby and I have a fairy tale marriage.

We don’t.

I wish I could tell you we are good at communication.

We aren’t.

I wish I could tell you we don’t fight.

We do.

I wish I could tell you we’ve never gone to bed angry.

We have.

I wish I could tell you that we are like two sides of a triangle making our way to God, that as we grow closer to God we grow closer to each other. Advice from a popular Christian marriage retreat.

It sounds good, right? It looks clean and neat. And maybe that works for other people’s marriages, but that hasn’t really been my marriage model.

Life hasn’t been nice and neat and straight!

My model is the “crazy straw model”.

Here’s how the crazy straw marriage model works. You take a blue crazy straw from one package and a pink crazy straw from another package. You put the blue crazy straw in a cup with a pink crazy straw to cohabitate. In the beginning, both straws are pretty straight and the liquid travels upward at about the same rate, but somewhere along the way the liquid hits loops. Sometimes the loops are close together. Sometimes the loops are far apart. Sometimes one loop is closer but the other one is far away, and sometimes, the straws have different amounts of loops, all the while the liquid is trying to make its way upward.

It took me awhile to figure out the “crazy straw marriage model”. Who am I kidding? I’m still trying to figure it out. I really want, and even at times expect, my marriage to be like the nice, neat little triangle model, but it just isn’t.

Sometimes, life just throws me and the hubby for loops!

Kind of like that misplacement of that 4-letter word – OBEY.

I’m not sure how the word OBEY got mixed up in the traditional wedding vows, anyway. It’s not Biblical. I couldn’t find the word OBEY in any of the traditional wedding vows on-line, now. But back in the day, it was there and it was a big thing. (A little side note history trivia – It was a huge deal when Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married. Di didn’t promise to OBEY. That’s probably where I got the idea.)

The more I think about it, when you look at some of the famous couples in the Bible what woman was obeying her husband? Eve? Sarah? Rebecca? Rachel? Leah? Job’s wife? Esther? Nope. Even Mary didn’t consult Joseph before she said “I do” to God’s plan. Of course, Mary and Joseph were just engaged and not married.

I think OBEY sometimes gets tangled up with SUBMIT. If you read Ephesians 5:21-33, there’s a whole lot of submitting going on there. It’s my guess that this is where OBEY snuck in the door. But there’s a big difference between the two. Submit implies I have a choice, I yield, or if you’re in Bermuda, “Give Way”. ( Hmmm, I’m sensing a theme in my life). OBEY means to follow the commands or guidance of. When I think back on the crazy straw marriage model, there’s submission. Sometimes I win. Sometimes hubby wins. Sometimes we both win and sometimes we both lose, but it’s submission and not obedience. We try to submit to each other and OBEY God.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21

Oh, but for the Grace of God, go I!

Even at my very best submission and obedience, I fall way short. I get tangled up in my own little crazy straw.

Granted this is a story about marriage, but I know God wants me to be more submissive to others. Period. He wants me to do more OBEYING of Him and His commands. If you read that verse again it says:

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Can you imagine what our marriages, relationships, churches, jobs, communities, nation, or even our world would be like if we all did more submitting to one another in reverence to Christ? Even just the Christians? True reverence, founded in Biblical scripture, and not words that have been mangled or interpreted to fit our own fleshly desires.

Yahweh, more than ever the world needs more submission to each other and reverence to Christ. I pray that You would open mankind’s eyes, ears, hearts, and minds to any false teachings or mangling of scripture to benefit the flesh of this earth. Start with me, Yahweh!

In Your precious Son’s name, Jesus Christ, Amen!

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Laura Rodgers

An upcycle transformation from Texas farm girl to transplanted Pennsylvanian with more spunk than Southern Charm. She enjoys annoying and entertaining her husband, son and daughter, with her various antics, wit and enthusiasm over a good bargain.

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