(pause my music below before you watch the video)
This week I went into Under Armour to get some new clothes for Jack.
Every time I am in there I love their slogan. I think it is genius and it is thought provoking to me.
{Protect This House. I Will}
We make choices every day in how we care for our bodies.
Right now I am not wanting to write about protecting our bodies and keeping them healthy.
I am writing about our literal house. Our families. Our marriages. Relationships.
I will not lie and say that watching my friends and family go through affairs, heartbreak and divorce has not affected me.
It scares me.
It should.
I chose this life with Kelly.
We made the choice to have children.
We made more than a promise when we had children….we made a covenant.
A covenant to always try. Â For us. Â For them.
It is easy to let the day to day take away from staying connected.
It is easy to get complacent. Lazy. Distracted.
We can give in to the things we think we want now and give up on all the beautiful things that could be waiting for us later.
I want to grow old with Kelly. Â I want to raise our children together. Â I want to enjoy our grandchildren together.
I want to work on our marriage now so later when the kids are out of the house we can travel and play. Together.
To get all those beautiful things later we need to protect this house…now!
Protect it like a treasure.
Make time for each other.
Listen and support. Â Encourage. Â Keep our eyes and focus on our family.
I Â know if I am seeing those around me hurting because of marital heartbreak…I bet you know someone too.
If we don’t protect our families it could just as easily be us someday.
Now watch the video again and get ready to defend what is yours!
Protect This House….I Will!
Dearest sweet Jeanne, this is a really beautiful and a sweet reminder to all of us on protecting our marriage, relationship, our house. Thank you so much for this…i’ve been thinking lately about my relationship and how i want to protect it. This is really beautiful and i love how you are able to convey how many of us feel into words. Have a lovely merry happy week and love to you and yours!
I LOVE this post, Jeanne. These are words that we all need to hear. I’ve been painting a little picket fence outside and the whole time I’ve been painting I’ve been thinking these same thoughts {although, in my mind, I wasn’t articulating them nearly as well as you did here}. The word ‘sin’ kept coming to mind and how it seems that we don’t talk much about it anymore…we don’t want to use that word…or hear it. I kept thinking of the destruction that it causes all around us…ruining homes and families and lives….how I see it’s hold on my own {not-so} little girl. You’re so right – we must hold on to what we have – to love and to cherish! Thank you for this sweet reminder!
Brilliantly written, Jeanne!
Really poignantly written and much needed! I’m going to customize it for myself and print it out to remember during those “difficult” days.
Thank you for sharing!
jeanne, nice! i appreciate this so much. thinking on the weight of a promise these days (marriage, for example). thinking on what is sacred in this life lately. marriage comes to mind; then other precious things can trickle down from that like family and children. god help us!
just got back from a long day out. got your message first thing when i got in. i know, amazing!=)
What a true post, dear Jeanne.I pray daily for so many hurting, struggling marriages. If satan gets our homes, he has everything. Love to you.
~debbie
I love you SO stinkin’ much for writing this!
One of the best … most useful things my parents taught me, is that marriage is hard work. It’s not a fairy tale … it requires diligence and TONS of hard, active work. It’s a promise you not only make to your spouse, but to yourself (and later your children) that you will work extra hard especially when the going gets tough.
One of the lessons that marriage has taught me, and that I share with my friends in times of need, is that if you are going to be married forever there ARE going to be bad times. Really bad times when it will feel so much easier to just give up. Times that you may have thought would be deal breakers until you arrive at them. Times when all you want to do is run away.
After 20 years, I’ve found that the hardest times haven’t even been the ones were my husband did horrible things … but when I have. When I’m the one who needs to be forgiven, and put in the hard work to make things right. I’ve found it’s much harder to forgive myself than my husband.
Some of the worst times are now times we look back on with pride for putting in the hard work to get through them. Because we now know that if we can make it through those bad times together we can do it again.
Love is such an amazing thing, and there is nothing better than sharing it with someone who has stood right there with you when the going got tough instead of leaving you behind. I promise 🙂
XoX
me
Love your application and this video. Thank you for sharing and being willing to be so transparent.
Wise words. My husband and I have been married for 19 years, but we’ve been together for nearly 26. In just three generations (our grand parents, parents and siblings) there have been 15 divorces and only 2 lasting first-time marriages (not to short change the long term second marriages–there have been two of those that are still going strong). My husband and I are the only ones of our 5 combined siblings to NOT have gotten divorced. Since I was 17 my husband has been the one I’ve wanted to grow old with. I cannot even fathom not spending the rest of my life with him so WE work at it. We aren’t perfect and we certainly don’t have all the answers as to what makes a marriage lasting. But we do know that it takes hard work and a deep commitment to each other and (for us) God. My prayer is that my children see that it is not easy to stay married; there are low times as well as the great times…and everything in between. But it is SO worth it.
Thank you for sharing this.
Another beautiful post, Jeanne! Wow…can you write!! And you do it in a way that it stops us in our tracks…makes us think & appreciate:) Today is the anniversary of the day I met my husband; in September we will celebrate 18 years of marriage. We promised then…we promise now. We will:)
P.S Wishing you & yours a safe and Happy Fourth of July!
WELL SAID SISTER!!
Love your post! You definitely have a way with words. My husband and I came from divorced families. 25 years ago this August, we made a commitment to love each other through the good and bad. We have and will continue for our children and our grandchildren.
Thanks for your beautiful words.
Have a wonderful 4th.
YES.
Thank You!!! Just what I need to hear. LOVE!
Great words of wisdom…just at the right time !
Although anytime is the right time.
TY
Amen!
fantastic post and so needed. it seems like satan is attacking marriages on all sides lately.
here is a wonderful series of lessons about marriage… excellent lessons. very much worth the time to listen.
http://www.sanfordchurchofchrist.net/Marriage_Family_Seminar.html
blessings~
chas
Jeanne, Thank you for reading my mind and writing it soo beautifully. I could not have said it better! From the minute I read this I was thinking the “house” was our marriage and our family. I am going to write this in a letter to my husband. I am also going to read this post at my couples/womens Bible study. Thank you for sharing your conviction for marriage and the COVENANT we enter when we say I DO! Joshua 24:15. Blessings to you and your family. Thank you.
So true, true, true Jeanne! After twenty five years of marriage, military deployments, ups and downs, good times and bad, I can say no bad time has ever been as bad, as the good times are. And every day still gets better, because it’s a like a masterpiece work in progress. <3
Kick a** post. Well said!!!