Guest Post at Catholic Cookie Jar: Marriage as a Gift

I have a guest post up at Catholic Cookie Jar as a part of Caitlin's Catholic Marriage Series.  With my two year anniversary coming up in about two weeks, I've been thinking quite a bit about marriage: how it has changed me personally, how our marriage has evolved so far (especially with the addition of a baby), and where we are headed in the future. But this piece isn't about us, it's about marriage being a gift to more than just the wedded couple:

Last month, my husband and I were both in his brother’s wedding. As I sat down to sign the wedding card, I thought long and hard about what to write. I don’t like to just sign a card, I like to write a personal message or a piece of advice, something to show the couple how much we care for them and our prayers for their marriage. I started by writing about how blessed we felt to be part of their wedding and how happy we were to have a kind, beautiful, and faithful young woman join our family. As I wrote this, I realized something that I hadn’t even thought of when I married my husband: that marriage is not only a gift the spouses give to one another and their future children, it is also a gift they give to all who surround them, their family, friends, community, society. It is an example of self-giving, sacrificial (and sacramental) love. So, of course, that’s what I wrote...continue reading at Catholic Cookie Jar