Dancing in the Minefields

Editor's note: As Megan Swaim and her husband Josh await the birth of their first baby in just a few days, please join me in praying for a safe delivery and a blessed life for this new little addition to their family! LMH

As I write this, my brother and sister-in-law celebrate their third wedding anniversary. I’ve been thinking about it a lot today because it was at their wedding that I realized that I wanted to be married to the man sitting next to me, my best friend, Josh. Three years later and we sit here happily bound to each other in this sacrament and expecting our first child in the next week or two.

Just a few weeks before my brother’s wedding, I heard a new song from one of my favorite artists, Andrew Peterson. It was perfect for my brother and his lovely bride and I couldn’t wait to share it with them. They were mesmerized by it and decided at the last minute that this was the song they wanted to dance to.

[youtube_sc url=http://youtu.be/_Gs3fg_WsEg]

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“Dancing in the Minefields” is full imagery of the reality, the nitty-gritty, of marriage and the beauty that follows. Marriage is like dancing in a minefield. You say “Yes” to each other, to Christ, not knowing what lies ahead, and you give yourselves to each other, joyfully, even in the face of stormy weather. I love the last line in the refrain especially: “It’s harder than we dreamed, but I believe that’s what the promise is for.” What a powerful statement. That the promise allows us to face the storms, to do the hard work, to be brave enough to dance joyfully through the unknown. Our promise, and His.

On Nick and Lea’s anniversary today, that song has been on my mind and in my heart on repeat. Perhaps because as we prepare to become parents, something so big, so unknown, we are doing it. We are dancing in a minefield. We do not know what lies ahead, only that it will be beautiful, and challenging, and heartbreaking and incredible. This is part of the mysterious, glorious minefield that is marriage: total abandonment to the will of God, the willingness to accept suffering as well as joy, to be transformed, and to become saints.