Gilbert James

Before You Say I Do: Take a Second Look at Yourself and Your Standards Before You Sign! Gilbert James

Marriage is a beautiful venture which should also be a beautiful adventure. However, too often we approach the path into marriage passively to realize sooner, rather than later, that we are actively on a path to undo what we now see as something we didn't create. Oft times we are right. "We" did not actively create that bond. Our emotions and anxiety created it for us. We ask ourselves if we were really sober during what should have been the period of examination and confirmation, and the truth is that we probably weren't. We were intoxicated with the bonds of emotion and anxiety. We have effectively allowed ourselves to be led, with our consent, by the person that we read into being the ideal and not who the person really was. We really did not know 'the person.' Before you look back and regret, attack it directly in its pre stage, rather than in its post stage. Be up on your p's and q's during what rightly is the period of dual examination of yourself and spouse "to be." Make sure that you know who 'you' are and your spouse 'to be' is before that grand occasion, and you are indeed giving and marrying that person. Make sure that your standards have been met and vice versa. Most of all, make sure that God's standards are met.