This past weekend, our church put on our Annual Marriage Enrichment Weekend. It is something that everyone looks forward to and gets uber excited about. We had my parents come into town so we could stay in the hotel of the event and let me tell you…we had such a great time!!!

Usually, a couple is invited in and teaches different principles that can enrich our marriages. We enjoy it every year but this year we really left feeling poured into and encouraged.

I thought it would be cool to share with you some of the takeaways that I learned:

1. See your spouse at the foot of the cross and not at the alter.

   “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

   This point made me stop and ponder. We are married (given your spouse is a believer) to a righteous being. Christ died for our sins and washed us all white as snow. This is what happened at the cross and why the cross is so important to our salvation. At the altar is where sin is atoned for. To be at the altar means that sin is present so to look at our spouses at the altar instead of the cross is to look at them as a sinful being and not a righteous being. God doesn’t look at our spouses as sinful but as redeemed because of Christ dying on the cross. He see us through a ‘Christ lens.’ So why do we view our spouse in a way that God doesn’t? We should see our spouses as God sees them. This my friend is POWERFUL!

2. We marry a work in progress, not a finished product.

   The speaker made a great point with this one. She stated that many times when people start having issues in their marriage, the #1 complaint is ‘You are not the person I married.’ In essence, we shouldn’t be the same person because we should be growing…we are ALL works in progress and in fact NOT finished products. Furthermore, my spouse is God’s project…not mine!

3. Don’t expect more righteousness from my spouse than I expect from myself.

   “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 NLT

   *Mic drop!* This convicted me because I can see my role in Melvin’s life as his fixer and think this is my job as his helpmate. First off Kim…no! Secondly, if I am truly working on myself, I really don’t have time to complain about Melvin. Again, Melvin is God’s project…NOT MINE!

   *BONUS*

   There were sooo many nuggets, I am still processing it all. A point brought up was that the time to evaluate and critique your spouse was when you were dating. Once you say ‘I DO’ it’s too late for all of that. Marriage is about accepting each other…counting the cost of whether you can handle your spouse, flaws and all, should have been done before the ring! So good!

   Anywho, I hope this helps you as much as it has helped us. We recorded a three part podcast series recapping the weekend so I’ll link that as well as the our FIRST podcast episode, Hand In Hand, where we discuss what we shared at last year’s Marriage Retreat.

   I’m curious…what are some things that you are doing to enrich and grow your marriage? Drop ‘em in the comments below!

   ~ This Is Us: Our Unique Relationship

   ~This Is Us: Our Local Partnership

   ~This Is Us: Our Extended Fellowship