620 Square Feet of Grace

Every time I hear that someone is engaged. I want to say a couple of things to them but the main one is: move into the smallest place that you can when you marry. Brett and I did not live together prior to our wedding day. I believe that this choice was an unintentional gateway for grace.

We weighed all of our options: the commute to work, cost, and various other factors.  We considered buying a house as well as the difference between living in the city or the country.  We prayed and talked and prayed some more. We ended up in a comfortable and cozy studio apartment. It is clear to me that God had this planned for us.

Fast-forward a couple of months later, after moving to another town and a bigger place. I am able to see the grace in that choice led by God. The first months of a marriage are momentous and living in only 620 square feet of space makes them important.

That limited amount of space with basically only one dividing wall taught us so much. When we disagreed and annoyed each other, we were still only a couple of feet from each other. Even if we tried to avoid the other and move to the other side we could still hear and in some places see the other person. It taught us to reconcile quickly. There was no room (literally) for an evening or day of stonewalling the other person. Basically, if we were home then we were within eyes reach from each other. We learned to share space very quickly if we wanted to do any cooking together. It taught us to communicate well otherwise cooking together would be a mess. Our work schedules are so similar that we both were using the restroom and closet at the same time to get ready so there was again no room for selfishness.  It made us a strategic team, we had to think of the best way to organize and store all our belongings.

We didn't intentionally plan for a small place for our first home. God did because He wanted to give us another means to grace. So if you are looking for grace in marriage, look for it in the small things.