This week my husband and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary! It’s crazy how fast time flies! With this special occasion approaching I decided to ask Jon if he could give me one lesson he has learned in our first year. With a smirk on his face he responded, “Don’t eat all the Oreos.” I laughed thinking back on the day I returned home from work with a craving for Oreo’s, only to find them gone! Needless to say he learned to never finish the sweets without my knowledge.

As I have been reflecting on the year and asking myself the same question, I have realized I’ve learned a lot of lessons, like men will be men, communication is a must, serve rather than be served, my home doesn’t have to be perfect, pray together, the list could go on…

But the most important lesson I have learned is the significance of the Greatest Commandment played out in my marriage. Though this command is meant for every believer to carry out in every stage of life, I have found it a challenge in my first year of marriage.

Matthew 22:37-38

“And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

This year it has been easy to put Jon before God. In our first year I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my husband, and sometimes I would let my walk with God suffer to do so. In our first year I would find myself trying to please Jon, when I should have been seeking to please God. And in our first year I found myself with expectations that my husband couldn’t live up to, and instead of looking to him to meet them, I should have looked to God.

Though my husband should be a high priority, he shouldn’t be the first. When I did make him my first, I found myself more prone to say things I shouldn’t, more easily upset and hurt by the littlest of things, and at a greater risk of having unmet expectations.

My marriage is about God and it is for God, it has nothing to do with Jon and Amber.

It is easy to make my marriage about my husband… but that is not the purpose of our marriage. The purpose is a representation of the beauty of Christ and His Church.

Ephesians 5:31

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church.”

God must be first. Anything else that takes His place is an idol.

We are two broken people, and without God we will make a wreck out of our marriage. I have learned that I must make sure God remains first, I must spend time with Him every day, I must look to Him to fill me, and I must look to please Him.

So here is to a new year where I can make more mistakes, learn more lessons, and stand in awe of the amazing grace of God.