I Do :: Renewing Wedding Vows One Day at a Time

A few Sundays ago, a couple renewed their wedding vows at Mass to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. I couldn’t see much and had one eye on the three littles surrounding me, but I leaned forward with inspiration and hope. Up front was this couple who seemingly led a beautiful life showing younger couples how to be steady and how to love. That’s not to say they didn’t go through rough waters. I know not the couple nor what their lives had held up until this point in time. But in this moment, I saw my own marriage and where it could go and just how special a gift it is. I imagined us renewing our own vows in years to come. We will repeat those genuine, traditional words that we spoke years ago, but we will be different people, changed people. And hopefully, better versions of those people.

But how do we get there? What’s the secret to making it through good times and bad? How do two kids from South Louisiana reach that 40 year mark?

Daily.

That’s how you do it. You commit whole-heartedly through choices — career, fertility, diaper-changes, discipline, education, empty-nesting, retirement. You take the ups and downs together. You are a team, and you put in the work to win the championship year after year. Some years you do. Others, not so much. But you show up. Daily. And before you know it, you are hosting Christmas dinner with a kids table full of grandchildren of your own.

So with these nontraditional words, I vow to you, my husband, one day at a time…

To listen. Really listen … with enough of me that you don’t always have to speak the words. To be a safe haven for your thoughts. We live in such controversial, divisive times. I am willing to be your sounding board, to challenge you, to question you, to validate you. I promise to voice just how much you mean to me and encourage you in the roles you play, whether provider, husband, father, son, friend.

To meet you halfway. I’m not perfect. Neither are you. But I promise I’ll take a step forward to meet you in the middle, and I want your heart to be open to do the same.

I promise to do my share in refusing to allow you to become complacent in your faith. I will pray for you and with you. Our faith is a gift, and it is our job to raise each other up within it.

I will always seek to better myself in education, kindness, love, {and technology}. I vow to give all of me to my faith. And with that faith as my cornerstone, I vow to strive to be a strong woman that you are proud of, that our sons are proud of, that my family and my God are proud of.

I vow to give myself to you.

I promise to give of myself in raising our children. They are not mine, not yours, but ours to borrow for a short time on Earth, and I vow to be the best guide I can be in their lives.

In all of these things I won’t be perfect. I will fail. I vow to let you pick me up when appropriate. I promise to seek forgiveness. I vow to always know that tomorrow is another day and to try again. I vow to offer forgiveness to my best extent when it’s you that fails and falls below the standard to which we hold ourselves.

And lastly, I commit to the NBA playoffs {all 1000 games of them!} being on in our house during the post-season if you vow to accept my love of all things Bachelor Nation. Deal? Well, then you may kiss your bride.

I Do :: Renewing Wedding Vows One Day at a Time | Houston Moms Blog

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Jenn L
Jenn is an English teacher turned stay at home mom to boys Wyatt {2010}, John {2013}, and Abram {2014}. South Louisiana born and raised, North Louisiana educated, and Texas “polished,” she has found Houston to be home with her husband for the past ten years. After infertility struggles, in 2010 she traded in A Tale of Two Cities for Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and has since been busy discovering ways to learn while playing, maintaining a semi-scheduled family life, and integrating both Texas and Louisiana culture into her family. Besides making memories with her boys full time, she enjoys reading, running, crafting, cooking, and football. Y’all stop by When In Doubt, Add More Salt to read more about family adventures with the boys and Jenn’s thoughts on hot summers and Pinterest pin attempts, and her love/hate relationship with March Madness brackets.

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