This month's post is a reminder of why God instituted the covenant of marriage in the first place. Though companionship and procreation are certainly important, God primarily designed marriage to give the world a divine picture of Christ's relationship to the church (His bride). We can lose sight of this sometimes and forget that our relationship with our spouse is [...]
We were talking with a couple recently who are going through our premarital program and we were discussing the notion that romantic love will fade somewhat over time. In fact, if you're not being intentional about building more intimacy into your marraige, romantic love can just plain disappear! Over time, we can settle for what we think is a "good" [...]
We are officially entering the "season of giving". It somehow seems easier during Christmas season to put other's needs before our own and be generous in our giving. We need that same selfless attitude everyday in our marriages if we want to fulfill Christ's purpose for marriage—displaying to a watching world the same selfless love Christ has for His bride, [...]
As a new year begins, many people reflect on the past year to evaluate how their year went. As 2010 was coming to a close, Sharon and I came to realize that our relationship was suffering from neglect among other things. If you are not intentional about cultivating your relationship, it will naturally settle into mediocrity—or worse. We had a [...]
With Valentines Day celebrated on the 14th day of this month, February is arguably the month that solicits more thoughts and actions regarding love and romance than at any other time of the year. It seemed appropriate therefore to take a closer look at what love is, and isn't—to learn the counterfeit from the real thing. This month's post gives [...]
This month we continue to examine "8 Love Lessons" to help define genuine love in our marriages as we look at Part 2 of last month's article. While these are most likely things you have heard before, it doesn't make them any less significant. I know I need regular reminders to love the way Christ loves—and these are excellent reminders [...]
I was never one to get caught up in the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing. If I needed to change something, it didn't seem to make sense to wait until New Years to finally make a commitment. You just do it when its needed. However, sometimes we need that extra motivation to take the steps we know are necessary to [...]
If you've been married for any length of time, its not uncommon to find some things that your spouse says or does annoying. It seems that the longer you are married, the longer the list can get. The challenge is to keep your focus on the positive things your spouse does and not keep a "record of wrongs". Sharon and [...]
It's that time of the year again. Whether we like it or not, Hallmark and a host of other stores turn our attention to the day when we celebrate and (try to) engage in romance. That's right, I'm talking about Valentine's Day. A day where women look forward to a romantic dinner by candlelight, intimate conversation, flowers and chocolate and [...]
This month we're going to look at some myths about marriage and what really makes a marriage work. A couple years ago I wrote a 12-part blog series on Dr. John Gottman's classic book about marriage relationships, "The 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work." This month's Relationship Booster is an excerpt from one of those blog entries. [divider] Exploding Some [...]
