Perhaps you’ve been there. You and your spouse are “discussing” something when suddenly you realize things are getting heated and going south. If it goes much further, you’ll hit a point of no return and it won’t end well. This is normal in marriage. It happens to everyone from time to time. But how […]
The following parable is suited to many situations in life, but it’s particularly suited to marriage. Once there were three farmers. They each had a field that was not doing well. The demands of growing crops had slowly drawn the life-giving nutrients from the soil until they no longer produced satisfying crops for the […]
What do you do if you’re having trouble getting over the way your spouse has hurt you? I posed this question in the last post, but I didn’t answer it. Instead, I looked at the various ways spouses hurt one another. I encourage you to go back and read that post, but here’s a […]
Let’s cut to the chase. There will be times when we find ourselves attracted to someone other than our spouse. We don’t like to admit it, but it happens. We see someone and do a double-take. We’re with a group of people and find ourselves drawn to someone’s humor, personality, or interests. This is […]
“It’s only for a couple of weeks. Just don’t say anything!” These were the words of caution/threat that my wife delivered to me prior to her parents’ arrival. And she drove those word home as if she was driving a three-inch nail through my forehead. In all fairness, she had good reason to be […]
Remember when when you were so in love with your spouse you couldn’t think of anything you wanted to change about them? Does that seem like a long time ago? WHY CAN’T WE SEE OUR DIFFERENCES EARLY ON? In premarital counseling, I try to get couples to see their differences and the problems those […]
Does any of the following sound familiar? That’s not the right way to load the dishwasher. They won’t get clean that way. Why are you going this way? It takes longer and there are more stop lights. Why can’t you put things away when you’re done? That’s not the right way to discipline the kids. […]
Here’s the story of two couples… Couple #1 It was a Saturday afternoon when some friends of ours called in great distress. They asked if I could come over as soon as possible. I could tell from the voice on the phone that something bad was happening. When I pulled up, one spouse was on […]
I raised two daughters, and I have four grandchildren. So I’ve read my fair share of fairytales. You would think that people would eventually outgrow fairytales, but there’s one fairytale no one seems to outgrow. Perhaps it’s our early diet of princess and shining knight stories (thank you Disney,) but we still tend to believe […]
I typically talk about what it means to have a “normal marriage.” But in these days of social distancing, “normal“ has become a thing of the past. We are all operating under a new normal now. And that new normal is…quarantine! Couples who have typically been franticly busy, running from one obligation too the next, […]