Love is Teamwork. How do you play?

Do you love watching the Olympics? Do you love being married or want to get married? What do Marriage and the Winter Olympics have in common? They both require major teamwork and superhuman commitment. Zig Ziglar shared an important attitude toward marriage and teamwork. His motivational advice still helps people succeed in life even after his death in 2012. Do you view your spouse as a teammate? Are you on the same side? Marriage works best
as a loving, supportive team of ONE comprised of two.

Olympians train and practice most of their life to just be part of their country's team. Making the team doesn't always mean glory and winning, sometimes it means heartache and defeat. Dedication, commitment and love for their sports are required to make the team. The team supports each other.  Mark 3:25 reminds us "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." If teammates are working against themselves, they cannot win. Teamwork is the very epitome of marriage.

Let's look at  the famous "love" verses in I Corinthians 13:4-8 thinking of  "your spouse" as part of them for better understanding.  "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor (my spouse), and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in inquity, but rejoiceth in truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth...

So, so much knowledge in four verses of scripture, but I want to concentrate on "seeketh not her own".  We could say "sticks with the team", "includes team members in all ideas, decisions and choices for the team", or "puts the team before herself." THIS IS TEAMWORK!  Imagine your marriage as a 2-person Olympic team. You journey to a foreign country with a teammate. You walk in before the world together. You share agony and triumph together. You leave the event a stronger team than you came. The same process should happen every day in a marriage.

Marriage is a "give, give, give" and "did I say give" type of team. If you don't like giving, marriage may not be a team you want to make. Some days you'll be rewarded with a gold medal, some days a bronze and others, no medal at all. The important things aren't the rewards but the strength of the team.  Do you and your spouse clearly understand you are on the same side?  When you watch the Olympics tonight, I hope you view them differently.

Going for the Gold,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap