velveteen marriage

The years have worn on Mr. Fantastic and I a bit.

Like the stuffed rabbit in the proverbial tale who found that love made him real as it tattered and wore him, we can’t help but be real after all these years.

Our marriage is not on a shelf, or in a jar, or on display to be viewed as a pristine example of a perfect marriage.

Mr. Fantastic and I have carried each other around and occasionally dropped one another by accident. Selfishly we dragged each other through the dirt a few times, and often held on to the other person too tightly because joy or sorrow overwhelmed us.

We don’t have a plastic marriage that wipes clean so you can never tell it’s been handled or touched.

Nor do we have a glass marriage that is so fragile it must be put where people can see it, but no one can get too close.

At first glance, from afar, we look a lot less scuffed up than we are. But if anyone watches or listens for long, they learn the truth.

Ours is a velveteen marriage, held by a God whose love for us makes us real. He sees our wrongs, our sins, our shortcomings, and forgives us. He pours His mercy into our hearts for one another so the forgiveness can be passed on.

We love each other to pieces. The love in our hearts seems to grow exponentially with the wrinkles on our faces and the days crossed off on the calendar.

Raising children and building a church put dark circles under our eyes, respect and awe for one another in our hearts, and devotion to Jesus deep in our souls.

God has shown us again and again His trustworthiness, His greatness, and His endless love for us all these years.

His is a love that goes on and on, never diminishing or failing, more real than anything else we have ever known. It never fails us, even in the darkest fears, the loneliest moments, and the angriest storm.

With that love coming to the rescue again and again, real is all we know how to be.

I used to think that to be “real” a thing had to be able to be seen and touched. However, I have come to learn that the realest things are often invisible and rarely tangible, but when they touch you, you are never the same again.

We serve a real God, with real love, who works real miracles.

He can take your tattered life, your raw and scraped up marriage, and make it all real, too. Don’t put it on a shelf and push Him away.

Open up your heart to Him and be real.