Yesterday as I was taking a young couple through their first premarital counselling I needed to give them an illustration of marriage and its challenges, and this is what the Lord gave me. I said to them marriage is like swimming in the sea, most of the time it is fun, but sometimes there are big waves that come through and beat you down, and sometimes one wave comes after another, and at time the waves last for a considerable amount of time. But we don’t stop swimming in the sea because we are afraid of the waves. If we do that we miss out on the thrill and the fun of swimming. At the same time, we should not be naïve that it is all fun.