Okay, let's be honest, we all want someone to know us at our deepest levels. No, not just the happy, pretty/handsome face we show to the world, but the REAL us. We crave that, and marriage is the one place we can really explore and acquire that intimate relationship.
The last benefit of marriage I want to touch on is the intimacy developed in marriage. Marriage provides an avenue for intimacy that no other relationship provides. It does so because of the vows we take to love and cherish our spouse no matter what comes our way (sickness, financial struggles, kids...you name it). Those vows create a safe space for us to make ourselves vulnerable to our spouse in ways we don't typically do in other relationships. Friends come and go, betray us, and fall out of touch. Family is part of who we are and where we came from but still doesn't reach the same places a marriage can. Marriage is different because it is supposed to be for life, which opens up the door to a whole world of intimacy - being known at our deepest levels and loved for every ounce of who we are.
When you know someone is going to love you and stick by you no matter what, you can't help but begin to open up, become vulnerable, and share the deepest parts of who you are. Not only does your spouse get to know who you are as a person on the surface, they get to know how you think, your deepest fears, your scars, your hopes, your dreams, and they also know you sexually as well. What a combination! It's a combination that is often imitated but never repeated in other forms of relationships. No other relationship can provide all of the elements that make marriage such an intimate relationship which allows us to know one another in a way no one else does or can. That bond and intimacy only grows as we stick by our spouse day after day, year after year sharing, caring, and joining.
Being known in every way is such an overwhelming feeling that envelops us with love and pushes us closer to our spouse. It's a "vicious cycle," but in a very good way. Intimacy cultivated in a marriage is one of the best parts of marriage. I like to think of it as the cherry on top :)
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The last benefit of marriage I want to touch on is the intimacy developed in marriage. Marriage provides an avenue for intimacy that no other relationship provides. It does so because of the vows we take to love and cherish our spouse no matter what comes our way (sickness, financial struggles, kids...you name it). Those vows create a safe space for us to make ourselves vulnerable to our spouse in ways we don't typically do in other relationships. Friends come and go, betray us, and fall out of touch. Family is part of who we are and where we came from but still doesn't reach the same places a marriage can. Marriage is different because it is supposed to be for life, which opens up the door to a whole world of intimacy - being known at our deepest levels and loved for every ounce of who we are.
When you know someone is going to love you and stick by you no matter what, you can't help but begin to open up, become vulnerable, and share the deepest parts of who you are. Not only does your spouse get to know who you are as a person on the surface, they get to know how you think, your deepest fears, your scars, your hopes, your dreams, and they also know you sexually as well. What a combination! It's a combination that is often imitated but never repeated in other forms of relationships. No other relationship can provide all of the elements that make marriage such an intimate relationship which allows us to know one another in a way no one else does or can. That bond and intimacy only grows as we stick by our spouse day after day, year after year sharing, caring, and joining.
Being known in every way is such an overwhelming feeling that envelops us with love and pushes us closer to our spouse. It's a "vicious cycle," but in a very good way. Intimacy cultivated in a marriage is one of the best parts of marriage. I like to think of it as the cherry on top :)
