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Have you come to a time in your life where your relationship with your spouse is its own reward? Do you still need all the trappings of the sporting life to keep your interest, or have you grown to love your spouse more deeply and intimately? Sadly, we all know people whose marriages have crumbled as soon as the player or coach was no longer in the sport. A marriage characterized by mature love and intimacy possesses something the merely infatuated and the newly identifying lovers cannot even imagine.
Solomon wrote about mature love in Song of Songs 7:10. There it reads, “I am my lover’s, and he claims me as his own.” Now this woman has nothing to say about browsing among lilies. Neither does she make a claim of possession of her lover. She simply says, “I am my lover’s.” Selfless and content, she now is.
Further, she says, “he claims me as his own.” Amazingly, she finds that the true reward of this relationship is the bond of love and intimacy itself. She is no longer impressed by the external trappings of her lover, it is him that her soul loves. As he claims her as his own, it thrills her heart and brings joy to her soul.
Think about the oldest coaching couples you know. They don’t look like they did in their youth. They don’t do the exciting things they did as a young couple. They don’t need to. Their bond of love and intimacy now finds that the relationship is its own reward. This is the goal. Toward this intimate love, we must all persevere.
Questions for Contemplation and Discussion:
Take a moment today to talk with your spouse about some of those long-enduring Christian coaching couples. What do you admire about them?
Think about a time when you and your spouse can get together with one of those older coaching couples to talk about how they made their love last for so long. Set a date.
Make time to affirm your life-long commitment to your spouse. Set your course toward a lifetime of love that has your intimate bond of love as its own reward.