William Doherty on How Marriages End Up Down River
William Doherty begins his book Take Back Your Marriage with a powerfully true illustration. His office is located in St. Paul, Minnesota, not far from the farthest point north on the Mississippi River. He describes the river’s powerful but silent current that drives its waters southward. He writes, “Everything on the water that is not powered by wind, gasoline, or human muscle” heads south. “I have thought that getting married is like launching a canoe into the Mississippi at St. Paul. If you don’t paddle, you go south.
No matter how much you love each other, no matter how full of hope and promise and good intentions, if you stay on the Mississippi without a good deal of paddling—occasional paddling is not enough—you end up in New Orleans. Which is a problem if you want to stay north.” (rzim.org)
From a sermon by Ed Sasnett, The Hub, 5/27/2010