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Any couple that’s been married for many years can look back and tell you about the joy that marriage brings.
There’s the proposal; the wedding day; the birth of children; anniversaries; and the promise that someone is always at home waiting for you.
Marriage is meant to be a joyful thing.
But, at times, it can also be quite stressful.
Simply planning your life around another person is hard. Then there’s the possibility of financial stress, emotional distance, careers taking center stage, raising children, and unexpected grief.
Most marriages are a mixed bag; there are natural highs and lows.
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The same is true in the spiritual life.
In the Gospel, for example, Jesus refers to himself as the “bridegroom,” meaning being around him brings the same type of joy that being at a wedding brings.
But in the very next verse, he warns his disciples that the “bridegroom” will be taken away from them.
The disciples should not only accept the high of knowing him, but also the low that will come with his death.
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Depending on how you look at it, Lent can be a high or a low for us. It’s a rigorous season, one that demands increased prayer, fasting, and generosity.
But Jesus asks us today, much as he asked his disciples, “Will you accept both Christian joy – and the Christian cross?”
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Like a marriage, they’re both a part of life.