Most people (myself included!) spend their lives in the Someday Zone. We say things like, Someday, I’ll… And we fill in the blank. Someday I’ll apply for that dream job. Someday I’ll take my spouse to Europe. Someday I’ll try marriage counseling. Someday I’ll get away for a long weekend with my husband. And before we know it, someday has turned into if only. Take it from me, a mom of five. If you're not careful, the demands of raising a family…
I did a test survey of fifty men on a retreat. When I asked the question "Do you yourself desire romance?" one of the men answered, "Yes, very much," but added in the margin, "but we have different definitions." That led me to want to find out what definitions of romance women may have missed. Men and woman have different definitions of what love feels like and looks like. {Tweet This}…
Frank Lutes romanced his wife Mary far beyond flowers and candy. He was recognized by Woman’s Day magazine as being the world’s most romantic husband. Probably his most romantic gesture of their 65-year marriage happened when he found out the hotel where they spent their honeymoon was set for demolition. Frank bought the door to their honeymoon suite and hung it in their bedroom at home. So every night, they slept in room 564. Frank must have inherited some ‘romance…
When first in love, life is simple and sweet. You and your spouse stay up late dreaming dreams and making plans for how things will go. Everything seems promising and exciting. But then life happens. Those dreams you dreamed are pushed aside and saved for later. But why can’t later be today? I’d like to encourage you and your spouse to write a couples bucket list together. It can be composed of small dreams or big dreams. Whatever you plan…
I love asking loving, married couples their secret for a happy marriage. Many times they’ll just look at each other and smile. But there have been other times when I’ve gotten some really good advice. The discovery I made was that there was an interesting commonality in the advice — it usually has something to do with attitude. Most words to inspire a happy marriage inspire us to have a better attitude about our spouse, our relationship, and our life…
Until a year ago, my husband, Mark, lived in a “forever young” bubble. He looks great, works out regularly, and never gets sick. Another Saturday moving day came (a regular occurrence with 5 young adults in our family) because my daughter was moving into a new apartment. In the rush to get it done, only one son was available and my undaunted husband figured that was enough. The apartment was on the second floor. It is unclear which piece of furniture…
Mark and I recently did a weekend marriage conference. We had just completed a session about how to fight fair in marriage when a young, newly-married, couple approached me during the break. The moment I was free they leaned in with an anxious look on their faces and asked, “when did conflict start in your marriage?” I paused. The air was full of expectation, and I felt my answer had significant power to help or hurt this poor suffering couple.…