![]() It’s a tableau that perhaps speaks to the human relationship with the natural world. The deck also reflects the humans from the middle of the frame. I like the way the composition is roughly divided into thirds: the top third, occupied by the glacier the middle section, a swathe of tourists and the foreground, revealing the wet deck of the ship. However, for me, the far more interesting image – and the one I’m pretty sure would have been overlooked by most – was revealed by taking a few steps back and making a conscious decision to include a human element into the scene. Most folks, including me, were jockeying for position against the railing to get ‘The Shot’ of the glacier in all its magnificent glory, maybe even capture it calving – it is a sight to behold. This image was made in Glacier Bay in Alaska last summer. all have an influence on the way an image will be seen and interpreted. And what you leave in, where you choose to stand, and which angle you choose. Now just do it and watch things change for the best.Whenever you take a photograph, you make a conscious decision about what to leave in and what to leave out of the frame. My question to you is: Which picture will you focus on today? The smaller or the larger? The darker picture or the lighter one? The temporary picture or the eternal picture? I think you know the answer. That’s why in Jeremiah’s prophetic book, God declared, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you: thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” And, you both live a fulfilling life until death do you part. You show them how beautiful their marriages can be. You create a beautiful garden for your children to grow up in. In that picture, you co-create the next generation. In that picture, you both complete each other. In that picture, God brought you together to mould the two of you into one flesh. In that picture, you are the perfect match for your spouse and your spouse is the perfect match for you. How true! Well, God has a bigger picture for your marriage. No couple will ever find true happiness and fulfilment with that kind of small-story focus.” Living in the smaller story means getting engrossed in petty things like bills and cars and houses-and pouting when those things don't go your way. ![]() They are so focused on their own pain, their own needs, and their own selfish desires that it's impossible for them to see God's bigger picture. ![]() When I see a marriage in trouble, I see two people who are completely caught up in the small story of their own lives. If your marriage is struggling, it is because you have lost sight of that reality. He has plans for you greater than you could hope to comprehend. He wants to do things in and through your relationship, things that are eternal and lasting and supernatural. ![]() The larger story is that God has a magnificent plan for your marriage a story much greater than you could possibly imagine. Are they seeing the smaller story or the larger story? Jimmy Evans, in one of his Marriage Builder articles wrote, “The difference between a failing marriage and a successful marriage is the perspective toward it held by the husband and wife. It’s the way you respond to them or handle them. It’s the way you frame them in your mind. So the problem with your relationship is not the challenges you face. The first thing to do though is recognize that the challenges you have are the result of your fallen nature - you and your spouse. The same God who supernaturally brought you two together and joined you in the Covenant of marriage wants to help you turn your marriage into the love affair He wants it to be. We have the backing of heaven and the power of the Holy Spirit. I say that because a Believer is not a failure. ![]() You can start to operate at a higher level of love and affection.Īnd that’s especially true, if you’ve received God’s forgiveness in your life and know Him as your Lord and Master. No matter how dysfunctional your marriage may seem at the moment how distant you feel from your spouse or how much pain you've endured, you can decide today to change course. The lesson is simply that: It is never too late to choice a new path to make your marriage work better or to turn a new page and start over. One of the points I often try to impress upon the people I speak with, is a lesson I learnt earlier in my marriage. The more I speak to couples about the challenges of married life, the more I am convinced that no marriage is unredeemable if couples are willing to drop the pride and put on a cloak of humility. ![]()
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