Marriage

If You Want Your Marriage To Work…

May 22, 2020

Everyone wants their marriage to work. You never hear a couple getting married make vows to love one another “till it just doesn’t work anymore.” They always vow to love one another “till death do us part.” No one wants their marriage to be difficult. Everyone wants their marriage to just work. But that’s the problem…everyone […]

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If You Want A Fairytale Marriage…

May 15, 2020

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 […]

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The Quarantined Marriage

April 10, 2020

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, […]

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Before You Drive Your Marriage Off a Cliff, Drive it Down Memory Lane

January 5, 2020

During my Senior year of High School, I began to talk to a  girl who really had no interest in me. (I mean really!) But the more I talked to her, the more interested I became. So the night of our high school graduation, I asked her to go out after the ceremony. Much to […]

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News Flash! Ken and Barbie Aren’t Real!

November 13, 2019

I went to a wedding recently and I was struck by how perfect the bride and groom looked. They appeared to have it all together. Young, good looking, every hair in place, makeup just right, smiling perfectly. They looked just like Ken and Barbie. (Assuming Ken and Barbie are married.) Who wouldn’t want to be […]

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When You Fight, Point the Fire Extinguisher in the Right Direction

November 6, 2019

Fred and Alice (not their real names) came into my office because they had been fighting over Fred’s failure to let Alice know when he would be home from work. The fighting was damaging their marriage, so they came in for help in resolving it. By the end of the session, the three of us […]

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Things I Would Tell My Newly Married Self

October 29, 2019

I have done a lot of premarital counseling, and I’ve found it to be both enjoyable and frustrating. Enjoyable, because you get the opportunity to walk with a couple and to speak into their present and future lives. Frustrating, because many of these couples have no frame of reference for what you’re telling them…and they’re […]

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If You Love Them, Prove It

October 15, 2019

When the couple walked into my counseling office, it was obvious things were not good between them. Their heads were down, there were very little pleasantries offered, they chose opposite sofas on which to sit, and neither wanted to be the first to talk. When they finally started opening up, each told story after story […]

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Has Your Marriage Lost the Magic?

October 8, 2019

It was late at night, and I was sick. It felt like someone had poured concrete in my head and chest. I had a sharp, hacking cough that sounded like a hammer on a tin roof. And though I had elevated my head in the bed, I was still tossing and turning. My wife was […]

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Take A Stand In Your Marriage.

October 1, 2019

  I was listening to a Willie Nelson CD on the way to work the other day. The CD is entitled “To All The Girls.” (I highly recommend it, if you’re a Willie fan.) There’s a song on that CD called “Walkin’.” It’s about the demise of a marriage. Listen to the words of the […]

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