Marriage Outside The "Box"
Thoughts and suggestions about marriage from an atypical point of view... based on Biblical points of view, lived out on a daily basis by a couple who doesn't have it all.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Thank You
Sunday, July 1, 2012
We Got A Little Busy...
So, where was I after that? Busy... In a different way! learning how to be a daddy is not easy, and with sleep deprivation on both sides, communication starts to break down. Due to our exhaustion, we had no energy to... take comfort in each other... and with a baby, bye bye goes any spendable money, especially as my wife became a stay at home mommy! So I vaguely remember something about me mentioning these three things being of some sort of importance in a marriage. It's really been odd going from having a marriage that everyone seemed to want to emulate to having a marriage that everyone that people were praying for.
What they say about having a baby is really true and you never really realize just how potently true that is until you are there. Having a baby REALLY changes EVERYTHING!!! All of a sudden, the glances I would give her before that said "I love you" now made her thing "Oh, great... He wants sex again? we just had it last month!" Her tender kisses were replaced with grunts as she left and came back to bed to breast feed our child. Ok... maybe it wasn't that bad... but we did have to relearn how to interact with each other now that there are three of us. We are still working at it every day, but I think that is the important thing.
So why come back now? Well, last weekend, my mother-in-law of all people was asking us for marital related advice. And though it was mildly disturbing to talk about intimate details about my mother-in-law's marriage, I realized that God had once again placed us in a position to help give Godly advice to someone who needs it. It made me happy that even though we don't have ALL the answers, we still have learned quite a lot in the last two years and I think we are stronger for it.
I've often thought of this blog and some wonderful things to share on here. I've forgotten most of them. Needless to say, I've forgotten what I was going to do for that communication series, so that's out for now, but I'll be back here and there to offer up to you anything that's laid on my heart. And to those who've emailed me over the last couple of years, thank you for your kind and encouraging words. I needed to hear them at the exact times they were sent.
God bless you and your marriage!
Nathan Ward I
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Communication: Introduction
One thing that it highly important is knowing what your "Love Language" is and more importantly what your spouses is too! What is a Love Language? I'm not talking about French or Italian, I'm talking about the 5 Love Languages set forth by Gary Chapman in his book aptly named "The 5 Love Languages." "Sure," you might be thinking, "a guy who preaches on love telling me to read a book about 5 types of love... I wonder what his cut is?" I don't get a cut... It helped me a long time ago and I figure it can help you too. Check it out at your library, book store or http://www.5lovelanguages.com/. Breifly, they are Physical Touch,Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service and Receiving Gifts (and yes that is the order of my love languages).
I urge you and your spouse to read this book as Gary Chapman does a much better job at explaining all of this than I could, but it is an important component to communication in your marriage and with those around you too! If you knew how to make your spouse feel absolutely loved just by communicating in their love language, would you want to do it? And remember, this is another one of those areas where you both must be selfless. You are not trying to find your love language for yourself or to pound into your spouse. You are trying to find your spouses love language so you can demonstrate your love for your spouse more effectively and more often!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Looking At the Best In Your Spouse Even in the Midst of the Worst
In any relationship there are hard times... some harder than others. It is always important to remember that love is a choice. Do you choose to continue to love and show love to your mate espesially when things are rocky? Its not an easy task to show love ... that's why 'they' call them "hard times." The choice is to continue to show love to your other half even when he/she is being down right unlovable! Remember, you made a promise to your family, his/her family, him/her and to God Himself that you would love and cherish your spouse not only for better but for worse too! And those bad times are precisly the place your love will be proven and strengthened! And if you're having a hard time remembering what it is to love, flip back to I Cor 13 and read though... if anything there sticks at you, kinda like an 'ow! Do I have to???' That's most likely what you may need to work on in your own heart before you can be loving to them in those times. And don't forget that love is selfless!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
So, What Is Love, Exactly?
Friday, January 21, 2011
Parental Boundaries
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Selflessness Is Your First Step
This comes down to communication. But it also comes down to loving another the way you love yourself. I have a friend who told me that she doesn't love herself all that much. I asked her what she would do if she found a $100 bill lying on the ground... She began to list the things she would buy for herself. This was about 15 minutes after telling me that she had no money to get her husband a birthday gift. Regardless of how you may FEEL about yourself, you still love yourself. You know what you want and need, and will often stop at nothing (within reason most times) to get it. Wouldn't it be nice if someone else would act that way toward you... look out for you so you wouldn't have too....
Now I know this may sound like a crazy concept, but when Kell and I were just going out, I painted her a proverbial picture of how a person is taught to look out for his or herself... "take care of number one" as the saying goes. But imagine if you will if someone starts to look out for you. That frees you up to lookout for someone else, namely the one looking out for you. If you are taking care of your spouses needs and your spouse is taking care of your needs you are both demonstrating love for each other in turn allowing each other to be loved and love. Now this is a very basic, infantile form of love as it is conditional, or tit-for-tat, but it is a place to begin. to know what love might feel like.
Talk with each other to find out what the other needs, likes and desires. Become each other's best friends...