This past Sunday hubby and I were given last-minute tickets to the Seahawks game! Whoo-Hoo!! On our way down to the stadium, we drove I-90 across Mercer Island and into downtown. Mercer Island is known for being where the wealthiest in Seattle live.
As hubby and I drove across Mercer Island, I couldn’t help but think of our dear friends Thor & Janie … Thor spent his entire career as a police officer on Mercer Island. Thor’s nickname for Mercer Island is “Poverty Rock” … because in his many years of experience, he discovered that quite a number of people who own homes on Mercer Island are so poor they cannot even afford to furnish the homes. Thor said that you would be surprised just how many of the grand extravagant homes on Mercer Island are actually empty inside.
The curb appeal is great! The status is to be envied!
But there’s nothing on the inside.
When it comes to getting married … oftentimes it is just like “Poverty Rock.” The “curb appeal” is great! That special someone is so good looking! Oh to have that!
The status is to be envied! The status of “being married” is to be envied! It seems like everyone else is married. Oh, to have that status!
As a result, many couples wind up committing to something they cannot truly afford. They “sign on the line” to become the legal owners of the “property of marriage.”
But property ownership takes a lot of upkeep!
That beautiful front lawn which was so gorgeous when you first bought the house … it was sod … and sod never lasts. After the first year, the sod always dies (at least in mine and hubby’s experience). So you try to sow grass seed to bring the dying lawn back to life. But the sod was laid down with a plastic mesh backing, which blocks the grass seed from being able to establish roots in the dirt underneath. So you try to pull up the plastic mesh backing in order to give the grass seed some actual soil in which to get established. It’s a lot of work! Property ownership takes a lot of upkeep!
That roof which was so beautiful when you first bought the house … after a winter or two of continual constant rain, it’s growing moss. It takes work to get that moss off the roof.
That beautiful cedar siding … it requires a coat of oil-based protective sealant every 5 years. Re-applying that oil-based protective sealant is a horrible exhausting task! Property ownership takes a lot of upkeep!
So also, the “upkeep” of the “property” of marriage takes a lot! It costs monetarily … it actually takes money to live. It costs physically … you have to actually put some work and effort into it. It costs emotionally … you have to give up what you want and be selfless! It costs time.
Can you truly “afford” what this “property” of marriage will cost? Are you truly willing to pay what it will cost?
Or are you in it simply for the “good looks” of the curb appeal? Or the status you’ll get from it?
Proverbs 24:3 states: “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”
If you are thinking about getting married, what is at the core of your relationship with that other person? (or in other words … what is “filling the rooms” of your relationship?)
Are you discussing the deep matters of the heart together? Are you building your relationship on a deep understanding of each other? Are you building your relationship on knowledge of what this marriage will truly require?
Is it just all about the excitement of having a “relationship”? Is it all about the status? Is it all about the good looks?
Don’t let your relationship/marriage turn out to be a hollow empty shell of something that’s merely surface good looks on the outside. Don’t build your marriage on “Poverty Rock.”
