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Key Bible Verse: "Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together" (Matthew 19:6). Bonus Reading: Matt. 19:3–8

As we hiked Washing-ton state's North Cascades, my daughter and I gazed at a 700-year-old tree, stunned to realize that it was nearly 200 years old when Martin Luther was born.

The trees on the western slope of the Cascades survive so long because the forests are so wet that lightning strikes cause relatively few fires. The traditional forest might face a lightning-initiated fire every 50 or 60 years. But in this part of the Cas-cades it would be about once every 200 years. So trees have much longer to take root and grow.

That's a good picture of Christian marriages. They will be struck by lightning—sexual temptation, communication problems, frustrations, unrealized expectations—but if they are heavily watered with an unwavering commitment to please God above everything else, the conditions won't be ripe for a devastating fire to follow the lightning strike.

If I'm married only for happiness, and my happiness wanes for whatever reason, one little spark will burn the entire forest of my relationship. But if my aim is to proclaim and model God's min- istry of reconciliation, my endurance will be fireproof.

—Gary Thomas in Sacred Marriage

My Response: I'll ask God to make my marriage model His reconciling love.

Thought to Apply: A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other the guardian of his solitude. —Rainer M. Rilke (German writer)

Adapted from Sacred Marriage (Zondervan, 2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, give me fierce determination to protect my marriage—and tender love to makes it a joy.

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