{"id":13131,"date":"2025-03-18T01:25:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T07:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2c5a99e6-9abe-11e8-99ad-ca52c1e5b2af"},"modified":"2025-03-17T12:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T18:34:15","slug":"why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Marriage Is Better Than I Imagined"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been married for six months. And it\u2019s been six months of awesomeness.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t expecting it to be so awesome.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Christian culture, I heard the \u201cmarriage is hard\u201d message loud and clear. Sermons, books, conferences, even songs on the Christian radio station all reminded me that marriage is hard<\/a> and takes work. Lots and lots of work. Even our pre-marital counseling was designed to point out the areas that would require us to work out our disagreements or potential relational roadblocks.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad I was taught these things, because they\u2019re all true. Besides, if we only talk about how awesome and fun marriage is, then we aren\u2019t painting an accurate picture. But somewhere along the way, I started to think that marriage was only <\/em>hard work. I only heard, \u201cMarriage is hard,\u201d and stopped hearing the second half, which is, \u201cBut it\u2019s worth it!\u201d<\/p>\n

So in preparing for marriage, I put on my battle gear.<\/p>\n

Bring it on, pre-marital counseling<\/a>! <\/em><\/p>\n

Miscommunication and differences in spending habits? I\u2019m ready for you! <\/em><\/p>\n

In-law expectations and gender role issues? The gloves are off!<\/em><\/p>\n

But it turns out that even with the hard work, marriage is so, so fun! Rather than feeling discouraged by all the things I was warned about, I\u2019ve felt so deeply grateful for the gift of marriage and the way it has exceeded my expectations.<\/p>\n

Sure, some of that may still be the glow of being newlyweds. Marriages go through ups and downs and times of extreme hardship and times of sweet bliss \u2014 kind of like life. Tyler and I might spend the car ride home hashing out a disagreement, feeling frustrated and angry. But then we pull into the driveway and he puts his hand on mine and I think, There\u2019s no one else I\u2019d rather disagree with than him<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I wonder if there\u2019s a way for us to talk about marriage that emphasizes the hard work but also the immense joy that exists. It\u2019s not an either\/or proposition, but rather a both\/and. Before I got married, I sometimes felt discouraged, wondering if marriage was only going to be one big source of conflict and suffering. It made me wonder if it was worth it to even keep praying for a husband.<\/p>\n

If you find yourself wondering the same thing, take heart! Yes, marriage is work and it isn\u2019t easy and it\u2019s not always <\/em>fun. But the hard work comes with a sweet reward, and it is worth it. A thousand times over it is worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wonder if there\u2019s a way for us to talk about marriage that emphasizes the hard work but also the immense joy that exists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":42654,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13131","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marriage-prep"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Marriage Is Better Than I Imagined - Boundless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I wonder if there\u2019s a way for us to talk about marriage that emphasizes the hard work but also the immense fun that exists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Marriage Is Better Than I Imagined\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I wonder if there\u2019s a way for us to talk about marriage that emphasizes the hard work but also the immense fun that exists.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boundless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined-67aa5ebc05223.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/\",\"name\":\"Why Marriage Is Better Than I Imagined - Boundless\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined-67aa5ebc05223.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-18T07:25:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"I wonder if there\u2019s a way for us to talk about marriage that emphasizes the hard work but also the immense fun that exists.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined-67aa5ebc05223.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined-67aa5ebc05223.webp\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"a married couple cuddling on the couch; marriage is fun\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/why-marriage-is-better-than-i-imagined\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog Posts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Marriage Is Better Than I Imagined\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/\",\"name\":\"Boundless\",\"description\":\"Find your place. 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