Jeremy L. Berg

Continued growth is the key to success in any arena of life. The same holds true with love and marriage. I have never loved my bride more than I do today on our 5th anniversary. We have never been healthier and more satisfied in our marriage we are today.

But our first couple years of marriage were not without some challenges and growing pains. The greatest gift we give to our spouse in marriage is not our flawless selves. Ha! Rather, it’s a life-long commitment to stick with it, giving each other 10,000 do-overs, forgiving often, steadily growing in the fruit of the spirit — especially love and patience.

Love is an art form, a skill learned through trial and error. We’re born into sin, with a natural bent towards self-love.  Yet, Christian marriage is the slow, steady cultivation of the other-oriented, self-sacrificial “agape” love of Christ.

Keri and I are committed for the long haul.  And God is blessing our holy covenant of marriage, and we’re experiencing the joyful pay off that comes from 5 years of practice. The fire of our love burns a bit brighter each day.  I am simply the most blessed of men!

Below is what I wrote on our first wedding anniversary. Enjoy!

The concept of marriage before the fall seems ideal: a man and a woman, linked by common flesh and spirit, sharing intimate relationship with God, residing together in a sinless paradise, responsibile only for naming animals and pulling some weeds (if there were any to pull). Even if this caricature of Eden is a bit simplistic, one must admit that the concept of marriage AFTER the Fall is a bit more complicated – quite absurd or even downright crazy, if you ask me!

Seriously, let’s think about this a bit. You’re telling me that you can take two independent human beings, both tainted by sin, naturally bent toward self-centeredness, each one weak and barely able to keep themselves together in this crazy, broken world, and they could live together for life, forsaking all others, committing themselves whole-heartedly to the others’ needs, through thick and thin, rich and poor, sickness and health until they die?

That’s ridiculous! That’s crazy talk! That’s impossible! Yes, exactly, it is – WITHOUT God!

I entered into this contract of craziness, this so-called “impossible” covenant one year ago with my best friend and bride, Keri. I’m a romantic at heart, believing in the ‘Happily Ever After’ and the infinite power of love to overcome anything, but I’m also realistic enough to have known the reality of human weakness and sin present in both Keri and I when I made my vows a year ago in front of MANY witnesses.

It was a beautiful day. Not just because of pretty napkins, delicious cake, beautiful music, and fun fellowship and dancing. It was a day filled with powerful symbolism. Without the transforming power of God’s grace and love experienced daily for the duration of our married life, those vows and promises, rings and the rest is all a service of absurdity! But whenever two adopted children of God stand together and exchange rings and promises, and publicly vow to partner together WITH Jesus Christ, then marriage becomes sacramental – we see the redeeming power of Christ’s love being manifested in our midst. Then we see the humanly impossible actualized.

Here’s to one year of marriage, one full year of living the sacrament, of manifesting a supernatural self-sacrificing love (albeit inconsistently and sporadically) to a world bathed in self-indulgence and self-service.

I love you, Keri! – “Til death do we part.”