The closer a man and his wife get to Christ, the clearer they see how important it is for them to stay close to each other.

A CHILD once asked a father
to draw a picture of a stepfather for him.
The father did as he was asked.
Then his son said, “No, Dad,
you left out something.”

The father looked again
at the double upside V he had drawn
on the page and the lines he had drawn
as the ladder’s steps.

“What did I leave out?” he asked.
The little boy replied,
“The part where you put the print can.”

The little boy may have been
more interested in paint cans
than properly engineered ladder.

But what the father later realized
was that the “crosspiece”
that extends to provide a resting place
for paints cans is the one part of a stepladder
that is truly indispensable!

Without it, the inverted V shape of a ladder
would collapse to the ground.
It is the crosspiece that allows
a stepladder to support weight.

If a couple is only joined by a recited vow,
their marriage may quickly collapse.
If Christ, however, forms the crosspiece
that holds their lives into a sturdy triangular shape,
they can withstand much pressure.

With Christ in the center,
a couple grows closer to each other
as they grow closer to Christ.