It was 1996. Jerry Maguire looked across the room at Dorothy Boyd, and with tear-stained cheeks he gave her his heart along with three little words, "You complete me."

I'm a hopeless romantic, and yet I have to tell you that this moment in chick-flick history was about as cheesy as a two-topping pizza. But cheesy or not it's one of those famous lines that won't soon be forgotten.

All kidding aside, let's take a look at the idea of completeness and how it relates to our marriage. The notion here is that you are two pieces of a puzzle that come together to make one whole.

That forms a pretty picture and a great analogy, but the reality is that Jesus Christ completes me, all else is grace.

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. ~ Romans 11:36

And yes, scriptures tell us that two shall become one, but that unity isn't made whole unless Jesus Christ is the center of it.

Women bring a lot more to their marriage when they lack nothing but a desire for more of God, which reminds me of the quote by Max Lucado, "A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her." But of course as long as we're in the flesh we will never reach that place of complete perfection. We'll slip and we'll fall and we'll miss the mark from time to time, but it's certainly something we should press toward as we're learning to lean on God.

The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~ James 1:3-4, NIV

See that? I don't see a man or a woman anywhere in that equation. What I see instead is ones commitment to living by faith.

The minute that we take our eyes off of God and put them onto this world we begin to lust after things that rust, and break, and fade away rather looking to God as our source of contentment. That's when we say ridiculous things like:

You complete me
I have to have it
I'll die without it
If it feels good, do it!
Follow your heart.

Love this quote from John Piper, "The deepest root of Christian womanhood is hope in God. She doesn't put her hope in her husband or in getting one, and she doesn't put her hope in her looks."

As a child I put my hope in my father. He was an amazing Dad who supplied everything his wife and six daughters needed. There was never a day I went hungry and there was rarely a day he didn't make me smile. He was everything to me.

I loved that man so much and always will. But in 1976 Mom and Dad led our family toward something better than they could ever supply on their own--faith in God through His Son, Jesus Christ. There isn't a gift under the sun that is greater than that, in fact it's that gift that carried me through his recent sickness and death as I sang, "What a day that will be..."

I love my dad with all my heart, but the bottom line is that Jesus completes me, all else is grace. (Dad would love to hear me say that, and would add a big, "Amen!")

Blessings,

Darlene Schacht

www.timewarpwife.com