Our marriage group meanders through various topics and conversation starters. This week we ventured into a simple enough question as we gathered around the fire, a mug of warm tea in our hands. 

 

"What are the reasons you fell in love?"

 

This is a group who have been married for one or two score years, and have not the slightest interest in throwing in the towel. All of us have had woes, and even disasters. But our partnerships have been reinforced by shared heartache rather than split by it. 

 

"I liked the way he thought. He had more of an intentional philosophy of life than the other men I knew. I even told a friend I could marry someone like him. Which was a way of telling myself."

 

"For some of my life, I felt like I was wandering from one thing to another. I didn't know what I needed. But I realize God did. He led me to her."

 

"We were in our thirties when we met, and my parents were worried that he was a different religion. I loved our differences. I felt free to be myself yet he opened me to many new things that helped me grow as an individual and we became stronger together.”"