Inspiring Lasting Marriages Starts With Celebrating Long Ones

“Love your spouse and share the Gospel.” Those were the wise words my Poppy uttered to a private dining room packed with his kids, grandkids, and great-grandchild last weekend.

For 60 years, my Poppy and Grammy (“the sweetest woman I’ve ever known,” Poppy often quips) have not only kept their covenant to cherish each other, but witnessed their legacy of love continue with the weddings of both of their children and four of their 10 grandchildren.

They will be the first to tell you that their marriage is not perfect or easy. In fact, their first supper as newlyweds with $50 to their name was a simple Midwest meal laid out on a makeshift table of boxes and suitcases.

More than half a century after those lovebirds tied the knot, they gathered their entire family for a weekend of fun and a fancy steak dinner to show that “till death do us part” yields many blessings for those who are willing to commit to it. A celebratory slideshow featuring hundreds of wedding snaps, births, baptisms, cousin shenanigans, dance recitals, baseball games, and more set to a soundtrack of worship music and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless The U.S.A.” further proved the point.

Six decades of marriage is a monumental feat, considering how unions are faring these days. It’s no secret that the number of people getting married in Western countries like the U.S. is lessening. Statistics suggest that between 40 and 50 percent of first marriages in America will eventually trade nuptial bliss for divorce.

My grandparents, no matter the tough trials and relationship strains they inevitably faced since 1965, however, don’t fall into that category. As a result, they have left a measurable mark on not only each other, but three more generations of family members and countless friends.

Children of married parents have all around higher chances of flourishing. Not only did my grandparents set their children (and subsequently, their grandchildren) up for success through marriage, but they also became devout, practicing Christians, making them even less likely to split.

A flourishing society needs strong marriages like Grammy and Poppy’s. Yet, youngsters are bombarded with cultural lies telling them that getting married isn’t worth the hassle and staying married is a ball and chain.

Yes, marriage is hard and often requires immense sacrifice of oneself. As my Poppy and Grammy can attest, however, staying not just married, but also in love, is far from impossible. In fact, “becoming one” can be even better than imagined.

My grandparents took the generational curses that plagued the roots of their own family trees and turned them into a positive generational cycle that has yielded six marriages and counting. Because of their devotion and fidelity to their Godly union, two broke but very in love college kids in Des Moines, Iowa, turned into a thriving dynasty of two kids, 10 grandkids, six people who married into the family, and one great-grandchild who love each other and love Jesus.

My grandparents are a lot of great things: involved, kind, gracious, and generous with their time and finances. But, as my siblings and cousins all agreed last weekend, the lasting impact they’ve left on our family and the world started and ended with their decisions to get married, stay married, and commit their lives to Christ.

Poppy and Grammy’s ongoing fidelity to the Kingdom of God and the sanctity of marriage proves they truly were a match made in Heaven.