Is it Mariah Carey belting “All I Want For Christmas Is You” or the melancholy music of “In The Bleak Midwinter”? What song comes to your mind? Let me know by sharing your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Well, just like a calendar, marriage is a relationship marked by seasons, all of which we committed to before God and those witnesses when we vowed, “for better or for worse.” If things are feeling more “Ho Hum” than “Ho Ho Ho,” let’s remember why as we read my sentimentality-stripped rewrite of the Wedding Vows:

FOR BETTER FOR WORSE (which really means):
In holidays with my family … and holidays with his family
In fitness … and fat
In maternity … and infertility
Through the birth of children … and the death of parents
In parenting the valedictorian … and the child with Down syndrome
In neatness … and unimaginable mess
In intimacy … and betrayal
In tenderness … and temper tantrums

FOR RICHER FOR POORER (which really means):
In employment … and unemployment
In bliss … and in boredom
In moving up … and evicted out
In freedom … and incarceration
In bonuses … and bankruptcy
In sweet victories … and prolonged failures
In care free youth … and costly long term care

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH  (which really means):
In euphoria … and depression
In sobriety … and drunkenness
In passion … and impotence
In workaholic absence … and omnipresent retirement
In sacrifice … and addiction
In cancer … and remission
In delight … and dementia

Forsaking all others ‘til death do you part.
Forsaking all others, why? Because Jesus Christ will never ever forsake ME, and His love (which is stronger than sin and death) will empower me to love my husband with supernatural love ” ’til death us do part. SO HELP ME GOD!”

Friend, whatever season you and your husband are in right now, remember this Christmas that God’s love for you is everlasting and omnipresent. Embrace anew the greatest gift, Emmanuel, God with us. Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Just think, as we sing carols to Him, Jesus is singing over us. I pray that truth inspires you to serenade your home with “Joy To The World.”