Passion and Romance

If you are a man in a relationship with a woman you have most certainly seen the movie - "The Notebook". Having said that you can understand that living up to the standard set in that movie is somewhat impossible or is it. In a society of selfishness it may seem impossible. But lets take a look at what be self-less means. The character of Noah follows displays a self-less love that few are able to find. He follows his wife into a nursing home after she is diagnosed with Dimentia. In a poignant scene in the movie Noah's children visit them at the home and urge him to leave. He says something that demonstrates what I am saying he says " That's my sweetheart in there and I'm not leaving her". He follows that with this "Your mother is my home now". Is this type of love dead in our society? I would like to believe that it is not. I would like to believe that this is the type of love I have for Leah. Marriage is more than just a committment you make. Churches want us to believe the the committment is all that matters. I want to add something i believe that is maybe a little more important. Along with that committment must come the committment to keep passion and romance alive in your relationship. Without these key elements a relationship will die. Even with the best of intentions committment can only take you so far. Maybe we can't live up to the Notebooks ideals but if we keep Passion and Romance alive in our relationships we can ensure that our committment to marriage stays fresh and alive.

Conflict the Marriage Builder

If title of this blog has you scratching your head let me explain. Marriage comes with the expectation that there will be conflict. We try to learn how to resolve conflict with every trick in the book. I propose that we have a conflict "Revolution". Let's turn the tables on conflict and instead of running from it lets embrace it and use it to build stronger marriages. I try to avoid conflict and by doing that a lot of issues go unresolved. Bitterness and anger build up to the point where you are ready to give up on your spouse. Now I am not saying to fight with your spouse everyday. What I am saying is simple when there is a conflict DEAL with it don't let it fester in your mind and in your heart. The Bible says "not to let the sun go down in your anger". Sounds pretty simple to me and yet we bang our heads against the wall living with conflict. Does that sound fun to you? Take the time to tackle conflict in your marriage and stop banging your head against the wall.