In the Ring: HonoRING, CheeRING, PerseveRING, & ReveRING

Marriage. It is a union in which I honestly thought I would be a older-than-average guy before I found "the one." However, I truly believe that it was God's timing for me to find my mate. We met in an unlikely time. We had known of each other for a few years prior but now lived over 600 miles apart when we started dating. We both were not in a relationship. We didn't expect anything like this to happen, at this time and with each other but it did. It makes me happy each time I relive it.

Every couple has their story. I find it fascinating to think of the variations that come in bringing people together into marriage. A few variations:

1. The "high school sweethearts"
2. One spouse more than 5 years older than other spouse
3. Unplanned pregnancy
4. Long-distance relationship
5. One or both been married before
6. One or both have children already
7. Blind date
8. One couple each brings a sidekick friend - and two friends marry
9. Late-in-life widow and widower find companionship

You can see there are different variations and these are still filled with variations within variations.

Sunday we concluded our "In the 'Ring'" sermon series on marriage. We looked at four more words to put into practice in the realm of marriage. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

• HonoRING ~ Live up to the vows that you took. Marriage is not easy and it will take effort. Put in the effort, and then some to make your marriage rewarding.
• CheeRING ~ Give your spouse at least one compliment a week. That may sound like a long time span in between, but I am not referring to telling the spouse things you may tell them already. These are something more "out of the blue" and unexpected. Find a way to cheer them on if they are pursuing a life goal.
• PerseveRING ~ Has your marriage lost it's luster? Try getting some wax out to polish it up and make it shine again. That may mean thinking back to why you fell in love with them, what made them so great. That may mean going to see a counselor or some other professional to talk. That may mean a host of things to give your marriage a much needed buffing.
• ReveRING ~ Lift up your spouse in any way you can, specifically publicly. It could be in front of their spouse, co-workers, children, or any other friends and family. Let others know you think they are number one in your eyes!

It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of life and letting your marriage get lost in the shuffle. I am not absent of such a habit, unfortunately. Take time to strengthen it with actions from the words we've discussed over the past four weeks.

Now it's your turn...What would you provide for additional applications with any of the above words?