101 Gifts Of Marriage

The waters of life have been a little bit rough lately. The marriage I see reflected in the waves has not been quite what I would want it to be. As my husband and I discussed our struggles lately, he made the comment that we want our marriage to be good because we want it to be a good reflection of the gospel. That comment really struck me, and after a few days of pondering, I resolved to make a list of 101 good things about marriage. I cultivate a daily practice of gratitude based on the book One Thousand Gifts, so why couldn't I make a list of at least 101 gifts in marriage? The list came easier than I thought. Some of the gifts relate to marriage in general, and some are specific to our individual marriage. Nevertheless, all are gifts, and I want to count them as such:

1. Admonishment
2. Adventure
3. Affection
4. Anniversaries
5. Apologetics
6. Bible reading
7. Birthday celebrations
8. Board game playing
9. Bocce ball
10. Care
11. Celebration
12. Christmas
13. Church
14. Commitment
15. Companionship
16. Community
17. Concern
18. Conflict resolution
19. Cook books
20. Cooking
21. Covenant
22. Creativity
23. Cuddling
24. Daily devotions
25. Dates
26. Discipleship
27. Dreaming
28. Eating out
29. Empathy
30. Encouragement
31. Excitement
32. 5Ks
33. Forever wedding dates
34. Forgiveness
35. Friendship
36. Furniture shopping
37. Goals
38. Gospel witness
39. Gnocchi
40. Grace
41. Help
42. Hiking
43. Home ownership
44. Hospitality
45. Hugs
46. Identity development
47. IKEA trips
48. In-laws
49. Inspiration
50. Kisses
51. Learning
52. Love
53. Matching clothes
54. Memories
55. Mercy
56. Movies
57. Notes
58. Optimism
59. Parks
60. Partnership
61. Pasta
62. Personal growth
63. Perspective
64. Photographs
65. Planning
66. Positivity
67. Problem solving
68. Prayer
69. Prioritization
70. Recipes
71. Rummikub
72. Running
73. Sanctification
74. Scrabble
75. Scripture study
76. Selfies
77. Service
78. Sex
79. Shared meals
80. Shopping
81. Sleeping in
82. Snuggles
83. Sports games
84. Sriracha sauce
85. Taste testing
86. Teamwork
87. Technology
88. Text messages
89. Theological discussions
90. Time
91. Touch
92. Trips
93. Travel
94. TV shows
95. Vacation
96. Valentine's Day
97. Vows
98. Wake-ups
99. Walking
100. Wisdom
101. Working out 

Is this list all-inclusive? No. If I'm honest, I hadn't started counting the gifts of marriage until I numbered these. I had been keeping a tally of all the hard things, but this list helped change my perspective. If I am looking for good gifts, I am sure I will find more.