In the previous post, “Lock Your Love,” I shared this awesome gate found in St. George where you can symbolically protect your love by attaching a padlock to a gate or a bridge. Go read that post because it’s a neat idea! I thought more about how this idea reflects marriage and found some great symbolism I wanted to share.

Locked strongly into place

My thoughts lingered on the lock itself, in that it’s nearly effortless to lock into place. However, that lock is very sturdy and requires a lot of strength to break it! It relates to marriage in that, there’s a lot more to it than day 1 of saying “I do.” To say that takes courage, yes, but recommitting yourself to this relationship every year, and EVERY DAY takes more than just courage, it takes strength. And just like locks get scratched up, weathered and rusted over time, so does our marriage, but it still remains strongly locked into place.

 Alternatives to locks

Though this is a unique romantic gesture, there are other alternatives to remind ourselves of the commitment to our spouse without having to travel somewhere to demonstrate it. Some of these you probably do already, but nevertheless, here are a few I thought of:

• Picture of the two of you on the lock screen of your phone, getting to see it every time you do something on your phone.
• Special key chains on car keys (could even be a little lock to “lock your love”)
• A wedding photo you see every morning when you wake up
• An object special to your marriage that you can see often
• Wedding rings - let’s not forget this biggie that we see every day!

I’m sure there are many others that we tend to have, so if you have some that you do please share with the rest of us! Whatever the reminder, it’s not important. I believe that just having a reminder can help bring us out of dark moments of contention with each other and move us towards forgiveness and happiness.

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