What Matters Most

We have just started our premarital counseling with our church Pastor and wow, what a tremendous discovery. Our first session started with the "5 Languages of Love." This is where I learned that the reason why sometimes Ayi and I just could not connect is because we have an entirely different primary "love language." Mine is "words of affirmation" and Ayi is "acts of service." No wonder we end up frustrated despite each other's effort to express our love at times. Now I understand that for our relationship to work best, I must try to meet his need by using "his primary love language" (while I expect him to do the same thing of course..hehe).

Our second session talked about motivation for marriage and marriage readiness. Funny thing is, prior to the test (yup, there was a test), I had some weird thoughts in my head that I might flunk the questionnaire and end up discovering I am far from ready. Haha! Guess what, Ayi and I both got 100%!!! Our Pastor even remarked that this is far better than getting a perfect score in school tests.

Well, for the third session "God's Blueprint for Marriage" was explained to us. This is the biblical foundation for marriage, magnifying God's major role in the life of a married couple.

For the very first time, Ayi and I were confronted with the questions "Do you consider Len/Ayi as a gift from God?," "Give me five reasons why you want to marry Len/Ayi," etc. There were some words uttered and heard for the very first time and it felt really great (remember my primary love language! hah!). It increased our confidence in our relationship and it opened our eyes (and hearts) to the major aspects of marriage.

We have several sessions to follow including the "temperament test" and the more we face the reality of this new life we are about to tread, the more we felt the Lord's hand preparing the way for us.

The planning and preparation for the wedding occupied my thoughts for months now (even made me crazy sometimes). Well, God has its way of putting things in its proper perspective. Now I realized that a few hours of regular reflection and prayer for something that will last a lifetime is far too valuable than spending six months of our time preparating for a five-hour affair. Indeed, OUR upcoming MARRIAGE matters more than every effort exhausted in making the wedding celebration go perfect.

We are just as excited to finish all the rest of the sessions with our Pastor. It's wonderful to be spiritually and emotionally equipped before embarking such a milestone in our lives.