love is a battlefield.
As our sixth wedding anniversary approaches (and as I've had an increasing number of counseling clients dealing with marital issues lately), I've been thinking a lot about marriage and family. As the professor of my marital & pre-marital counseling class in grad school said: "Marriage isn't rocket science, but it is really hard." And it's true: While not incredibly complicated, loving one other person for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in good moods and bad moods, through celebration seasons and suffering seasons, in failures and victories (and also loving the miniature versions of the two of you your love has made) 'til death do you part is one of the weightiest and most demanding things you could ever commit to doing. Marriage and family life takes hard work, endurance, and sacrifice. It requires risk and great courage. As Russell Moore says in his book, The Storm-Tossed Family , "Family is hard because family is unpredictabl...