The valley (external challenges)
Her side:
I've grown busy, and so have you.
We've been so consumed with our own works,
It's like we have no time for each other anymore,
A small hello, how was your day, but no depth at the core.
I am not faultless in this,
I, too, had a part in this.
Oh that we would return to our first love,
First to God (for we stopped doing bible study together), and then towards each other.
Do you know how that makes me feel?
To be distant from someone I hold dear,
And yet they are only a breath away, a finger's tip near?
His side:
I was consumed with doing the Lord's work and being about my father's business,
I was the face of a servant's heart to others, but neglected the wife of my home.
When the honeymoon phase wears off, and we fall into the mundane and ordinary.
The silence is worse than arguing, at least then we know what the other is thinking.
No, this is much worse; the enemy has infiltrated.
Taking love and connection, trading it for busyness and distraction.
We both played a part in getting to this place, but this is not the end of the race.
Them together:
The enemy would love nothing more,
To see this marriage dissolve like a slammed door.
Not quickly, but slowly over time, before we even noticed,
And by the time we did, it would be over already, like an eviction notice
Yet, united will we stand, alway,
We will not let it end this way.
And so we fight back together,
God at the center,
We start to go on dates again,
We hold each other again.
We confide and check in with one another.
Not surface-level conversation,
But deep calls out to deep,
And renewed vows do we now keep,
The Word is our anchor, a lamp unto our feet.
We strive hard towards that which we seek,
We trust God has already won the battle; for a moment, we may rest, for He gives His beloved sleep.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 (NIV), Ephesians 6:12 (ESV), Song of Solomon 2:15 (KJV), Psalm 127:2 (KJV)