Marriage and Family Blog

Understand What Your Spouse Is Not Saying

April 14, 2015

If you’ve read my blog, you know I caution spouses about trying to read each other’s mind. But then my wife took me away for a few days on a surprise trip to North Carolina. (That’s right! She made the plans, told me what to pack, and then said, “Drive.” It was wonderful! I owe […]

Little Things Mean A Lot – Honesty

March 31, 2015

Does the following exchange sound familiar to you? (Please say it doesn’t just happen in my marriage!) Spouse  1: “Where do you want to eat?” Spouse 2: “I don’t care. We can go anywhere.”

Are Your Dogs Out?

March 26, 2015

I walk most every morning in my neighborhood. It’s a great time for me to think, listen to music, pray, and make plans for my day. I’ve done this for years and have never had any problems with dogs. But over the last couple of years, I’ve started having “encounters” with dogs in the neighborhood. More […]

Are You Listening To Me?

March 10, 2015

Have you ever been in a conversation with your spouse and you zoned out, only to wake up to these words, “Are you listening to me?” Or maybe you were in a heated discussion where you were graciously sharing the benefit of your knowledge with your spouse, only to have them interrupt you and say, “Are […]

Dissatisfaction in Marriage

March 3, 2015

To be married is to know dissatisfaction. That statement will probably get me in trouble, but it’s true. You can’t live with someone who is different than you and not experience some dissatisfaction. Your spouse won’t make the same decisions you would make. They will correct you at times. Their priorities will be different than […]

Remember Why You’re Married

February 24, 2015

Unless you’re a newlywed, you know how easy it is to let the demands, stresses, and frustrations of life crowd out the things that brought you together in the first place. It’s subtle at first, but eventually these things can take a marriage to dull distance at best and disappointing finality at worst. But there’s something […]

User Friendly Spouse?

January 13, 2015

I’m an Apple Computer guy. From my very first MacBook years ago, I’ve been smitten with Apple products. Why? Basically because I find them to be very user friendly. You may not care what brand of computer you use. You may not even care about computers in general, but if you’re married you do need […]

The Windshield and the Rearview Mirror

January 8, 2015

Every life has both a windshield and a rearview mirror. That may sound too philosophical and cause some of you to stop reading, but it’s true. In every life, there’s a windshield and a rearview mirror. The way ahead and the wake behind.

Small Changes Can Have A Big Impact

January 6, 2015

What if a better marriage didn’t demand a major over-haul? What if you could have a better marriage by making small changes? I believe that small changes can have a big impact in marriage. Think about it this way…if a plane leaving L.A. for N.Y changes it’s course by just a degree or two, it will […]

Patterns

January 1, 2015

This time of the year, there’s a lot of talk about new year’s resolutions. Lose weight. Get organized. Eat healthy. Get on a budget. The list is long and varied, but the goal of each resolution is the same…a big change in some area of our life. I heard a statistic that said 60% of […]