People say we’re lucky—but luck has nothing to do with it. We work hard for our marriage.

We’ve had times when we’ve both looked at each other and thought, “I don’t even know who you are anymore.” 

We’ve both had times when we’ve looked at ourselves in the mirror and thought, “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

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That’s the beauty of marriage: getting a front-row seat at watching each other grow and change. That’s the beauty of life: continuing to grow and not stay the same as we were yesterday. 

We’ve committed to grow together, despite the growing pains. 

And we’d be in denial to think that either of us would stay the exact same people we were when we were dating all those years ago. 

When you get through some of those growing pains together and you’re on the other side of them, it’s magical.

But it’s not luck.

It’s applying ourselves to our marriage the same way we apply ourselves to a paycheck or to raising our kids.

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It’s work, but it’s also wonderful.

It’s growth and it’s also grace—with each other and most importantly with ourselves. 

Originally published on the author’s Facebook page