Teamwork makes the dream work

Last weekend, Sy and I went to a bbq, and we ended up playing an intense drinking game.  The majority of the people playing were couples.  Towards the latter half of the game-playing, people were starting to get really full from all the liquids being ingested so quickly, and it became a big struggle to have to lose.  A pattern began to form in which if the girl lost, then her husband would drink her drink for her to help her from getting sick.

Now, we all know that I cannot drink for the life of me.  I drink a few sips of anything, and I feel woozy and the room spins.  Poor Sy has had to drink double the drinks ever since we got together bc I could never finish my own.  But when it came to this game, I just couldn't stomach the idea (yes, pun intended!) of Sy drinking all my mistakes in addition to his own.  So when I lost, I belly'ed up and drank my cup.  The group cheered me on as they were surprised to see me hold my own.  But like all drinking games do, people started getting sloppy and making more mistakes.  There was a brief phase where the guys were making too many mistakes and needing to drink too fast too consecutively.  The respective girlfriends and wives offered to drink it for them, just as they had done for us.  For the other girls, this wasn't too hard.  But when Sy had a slew of consecutive drinks in him, I courageously volunteered as tribute.  I yelled out, "Give it to me!  I'll drink it!"  The group roared with surprise and awe.  How could Mia, the most alcohol-intolerant one, offer to drink her husband's drink?  It was true sacrifice.  1 drink for me was more potent than 1 drink for Sy.  And yet, here I was - volunteering myself for him.

Later that night, as I played back the day as I always do while lying in bed before sleep, I laughed at how silly this game was.  But it showed me an important aspect of marriage and relationships in general.  A couple works best when both partners are trying to help each other out.  Both the wives and the husbands all worked together to help the other not get too drunk.  Sure, Sy could've drunk all my drinks.  But where would that leave us?  A very drunk and sick Sy... with me left to help clean him up and take care of him.  That's not fun for either of us.  But by us helping each other out?  We both weathered the game okay and were able to just have fun at this ridiculous game.

This little example reminded me of that bible passage - "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30.  Biblically, the passage is about how Jesus' yolk is light bc he carries the majority of it. 

Since marriage is symbolic of our marriage with Christ, I thought about how even in marriage, we have to carry our yolk.  It's too hard for 1 person to bear all the burden.  Sure, it's doable, but it's not ideal.  So we carry it together.  It's one of the main reasons why God gave us marriage - the wife is meant to be a helper.  So we help each other - we carry each other's burdens together so it's not too burdensome for 1 person alone.  And then lucky for us, Jesus carries all the burdens we can't carry.

I'm thankful that I have a husband who looks out for me and wants to help make my yolk lighter.  And I will always do whatever I can to make his yolk lighter too.  But I'm more thankful that we have a God who gave us the lightest yolk of all.