Embrace Accountability

One of my most favorite things about marriage is the built-in accountability. I married someone who equally cares about maintaining healthy bodies & minds for our entire lives. He lets me push us to eat organic, natural, whole foods & fill our home with non-toxic products. I let him push us to be athletic, consistent & strong. We’re a good team, he & I.Accountability isn’t always easy though. There are days when he would rather eat Velveeta mac & cheese and I want to sit on the couch with my coffee rather than run. But we decided in the early days of our marriage to lean INTO the sanctification that happens with accountability, rather than to fight what makes us uncomfortable.At the end of a morning run or a healthy meal, neither of us are mad at the other. Rather, we often end up thanking the other one for pushing us to be our better, healthier self.Don’t be fooled, this isn’t always easy for either of us. There are days when the accountability makes me roll my eyes or want to pout because I’m not in the mood for the workout. But I choose to surrender my stubbornness & remind myself that he is pushing me out of love, not out of criticism. We determined from the beginning that we are not each other’s enemy. Rather, we are fighting on the same team against a common enemy and that enemy can be a multitude of things: laziness, comfort-zones, selfishness, etc.Marriage is a crazy learning curve, friends. But the sweetest and most profound of teachers. It's not the only one though. Scripture outline explicitly that friendship -- real, true, pure friendship -- is the original design for accountability and spurring each other on.Proverbs 27:17 says: "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."I love how The Message translation puts it: "You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another."Just because marriage may not be your reality does not mean that any of us are exempt from the sanctifying practice of accountability. Embrace this accountability wherever you have it and allow it to challenge and change you for the better.