My husband and I both came from divorced parents. They loved us and taught us wonderful things, but making a marriage successful wasn’t one of them. That is why seeking and finding marriages that inspire and instruct us has become so important, and why I’ve wanted to share some of these folks that we love and look up to with you! This is another one of those couples. We’ve come to know them and their relationship quite well because we teach and mentor alongside them in the Marriage Preparation course at our church twice each year. We’ve heard their stories enough that we can nearly tell them ourselves!! We admire them. We love them. Meet our friends, Larry & Sue Piper!
Larry & Sue Piper
Wedding Date: December 6th, 1975
Family: 2 Children, 2 Grandchildren (with another on the way!)
What has been your favorite part of marriage?
Sharing life together! There is someone to share the good times with and someone to carry you through the difficult times. We’ve also enjoyed the process of each becoming better individuals than we could have every accomplished seperately. And of course, having a family!
What has been the most difficult part of marriage?
The process of “becoming one”, the molding of two individuals into one unit. This was very difficult due to our self-centeredness, selfishness and immaturity. We were also not walking with Christ for many years.
What is the biggest change in your marriage now after 36 years versus the first 5-10 years?
We are far more in love now than we were then. We attribute this to a much closer walk with God, which has made us far less self-centered.
You guys work together everyday. That is a lot of time together. How do you make that work?
Yes, we spend a lot of time together – that is a blessing and a challenge! Although Larry runs the company, I {Sue} actually report to our Operations Manager. That layer of “indirect supervision” helps a great deal. In reality, we are very good friends and enjoy spending time together…mostly ;-). We do take time for our individual interest apart from each other.
If you could leave your grandchildren with one piece of advice for their marriages, especially given the direction of marriage in our culture today, what would it be?
Make God the center of your marriage. Die to yourself…and new life will spring forth. Put the other person before yourself. That is when you and your marriage will truly live!
That last piece of advice are the words of wisdom that Larry & Sue share as we wrap up each Marriage Prep class. “Die to self…and LIVE!” It is the example Christ set for us. In a world that teaches us to look out for our own happiness, Larry & Sue are living out the example of what it means to “honor one another above yourself” (Romans 12:10). Thank you Larry & Sue – for serving beside us as fellow mentors to others, but even more so – for being mentors to us.
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