Regular Scheduled Maintenance
Our home needs regular scheduled maintenance: the siding around the outside faucet is crumbling; the privet is overgrowing the fence; a heat pump is over 20 years old. Cars need oil changes, hoses, transmissions flushed. Our bodies fare a little better; we see some doctor every three months, pacemaker checks, blood work. Extended family relationships need nurturing. Jobs require continuing education and licensures; we can’t let those requirements lapse, can we?
Likewise, our marriages need regular scheduled maintenance. We say, “I do,” and somehow expect our marriages to keep up with us as we fly through our two lives. Demands pull us away from each other and the joy we can experience as married partners in life. When we married, we made some promises to each other before God and in the presence of our community. Churches, agencies, and marriage enrichment groups offer many opportunities for marital growth.
Will you think about your vows and commit to cherish your spouse in some program this fall? Time conflicts come immediately to mind; we all have them. Will you be like one young husband? He and his wife wanted to do a program for their marriage, and they have a busy family schedule. He gave his wife a wonderful gift. He responded to her worry, “It’s important; we’ll make it happen.”
Explore making a commitment to your marriage in a couples’ program this year knee to knee.
What opportunities are available?
What would you like to do?
Who will take the next step of registering?
Turn to your spouse and share knee to knee.
Credit: “Wonderful Wednesdays”
To Purchase please visit: Yawn’s Publishing
More Exercises
Our home needs regular scheduled maintenance: the siding around the outside faucet is crumbling; the privet is overgrowing the fence; a heat pump is over 20 years old. Cars need oil changes, hoses, transmissions flushed. Our bodies fare a little better; we see some doctor every three months, pacemaker checks, blood work. Extended family relationships need nurturing. Jobs require continuing education and licensures; we can’t let those requirements lapse, can we?
Likewise, our marriages need regular scheduled maintenance. We say, “I do,” and somehow expect our marriages to keep up with us as we fly through our two lives. Demands pull us away from each other and the joy we can experience as married partners in life. When we married, we made some promises to each other before God and in the presence of our community. Churches, agencies, and marriage enrichment groups offer many opportunities for marital growth.
We just returned from the Better Marriages Conference in St. Louis. This is the “big one” that happens every two years. Why did we go? Why did we invest the time and money? We need maintenance. A crucial part of that maintenance is to share in the experiences of other couples, to learn new skills, and to access resources for ourselves and those we love. We found skills on fighting fairly (all around the world), we gained insight into helping those experiencing betrayal, we learned of services for families impacted by incarceration, we revisited the power of humor based in self-knowledge, and giggled our way through the reintroduction of the “Ten Second Kiss” (you can stop at 7 at high altitudes). We will share the new resources with you on this site. We need a periodic marriage friendly, marriage energizing event to tune our couple engine. We encourage you to find one for yourselves. It is a maintenance investment you will never regret. For example, we will be at the Better Marriages Georgia Getaway for Valentine’s weekend in 2016. www.bettermarriagesga.org
Will you think about your vows and commit to cherish your spouse in some program this fall? Time conflicts come immediately to mind; we all have them. It’s important.
Explore making a commitment to your marriage in a couples’ program this year knee to knee.
What opportunities are available?
What would you like to do?
Who will take the next step of registering?