SABBATH SNAPSHOT : s-TEA-ress & s-TEA-rain of marriage

Following a weekend wedding, a book on marital bliss seemed appropriate to review----tho some of the portrayals showed some not so blissful nuptial moments. Certainly all marriages have  both. The stress and strain of any marriage can be daunting, but when one factors in the role of a very public ministry, that relationship can face tough obstacles.
C.S. Lewis Had a Wife by William Peterson is a look at marriages of some stalwarts of the Christian faith. Even these 5 couples, as Peterson's research revealed, had to face everyday sorts of problems, typical in all marriages. 

None of the book is written in "southern English" and those chapters written in "olde English" leave room for deciphering for this southern miss. Founder of the Presbyterian denomination in Scotland, John Knox, who settled into marriage, his first of two, at the age of 42, wrote in a letter describing self as "now burdenit with dowbill caris." (p. 33) Of course, as one who took his mother-in-law along on his homeymoon, Knox might have lamented thrice caris. But even years after death of wife Marjory (at age 25) he described her as "darrest spouse of blessit memorie." (p. 44)

The Hudson Taylor entry, told of early rejections from two different fiancés and his ensuing marriage to Maria, an orphan who would be such a backbone to his China Inland Mission that Taylor "learned to value her judgment and prayerfulness that he never took a step without consulting her." (p. 71) They buried two of their children together and then tho he felt "utterly crushed" when she died in childbirth, he drew closer to the Lord and was able to "thank Him for ordering it for her, that she might be with Him." (p.82) 
Taylor, along with his second wife Jennie and through China Inland Mission, put 825 missionaries on the field by 1905---all 'for Jesus sake.' (p. 86)

My favorite entry was "Meet Jack (C.S.) and Joy Lewis."
C. S. Lewis did not marry until age 60 and his spouse, a divorcée, was considered by many as a most unusual woman---a marriage of the minds. "For Jack the attractions was a t first intellectual...in width of interest, in analytical grasp, and above all in humor and sense of fun." (from brother Warren's diary entry, p.165) An ecclesiastical ceremony was performed at what seemed was Joy's death bed. But God gave Jack and Joy a 2 year reprieve. Though eventually she succumbed as the cancer returned, this entry focused on the meaningful time they had together. 
Lewis recalled a belated honeymoon in Ireland, writin, "I'm such a confirmed old bachelor that couldn't help feeling I was being rather naughty staying with a woman at a hotel. Just like people in the newspapers." (p. 170)
Following her death, "in A Grief Observed, Lewis tells how Joy and he 'feasted on love: everymode of it---solemn and merry, romantic and realistic, sometimes as dramatic as a thunderstorm, sometimes as comfortable and unemphatic as putting on your soft slippers.'" (p. 174) 

All in all the book is a good nighttime read---like short stories. Each chapter is a complete entry. Revealingly interesting, concise, mostly calm and inspirational.