Right. This will be even shorter and sweeter than originally planned as I just inexplicably lost this entire post already when I went to post it last time!!!!

I want to shout out to all those in the Being Frank community who are in marriages where your spouse is a totally different culture/nationality to you. I have been reflecting on the beauty of “mixed culture marriages” these last few days after attending the wedding of two friends of mine from different cultures and backgrounds, and as I prepare to attend another one this coming weekend. I say the “beauty of mixed culture marriages” because I have quite a few examples of them in my peer group, and they’re all beautiful.

Stick with me here. :)

Watching these friends of mine prepare to get married, I have witnessed a lot of conflict and disagreement – real culture shock at times. And, for an outside observer, it has often seemed that some of these differences would be insurmountable. But that is just my narrow perspective because, without fail, each of these culture dramas have been resolved by using the same tools that they will need to use to keep their marriage a successful and happy one – listening, compromise, love, patience and remembering that the culture of their spouse-to-be is part of why they love them.

It’s been inspiring for me to witness this – not only so that I can take some lessons for my own marriage, but also because I see married couples as the base building blocks of a strong society. Therefore, if we can see inter-racial harmony on a small scale (and we can!), then surely there is hope for the big scale?

So, my shout out goes like this: congratulations to all of you who, on a daily basis, overlook the differences between you and your spouse(-to-be) in favour of focusing on the fact that God has brought you together and that he/she is the person for you. Good on you, and thanks for setting an example of the rest of us! :)