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Saturday, January 23, 2010

In Defense of Date Night, part 2

Well, here is where I left off yesterday with why marriage is hard work:

Somewhere during all of this, I think we both lost the reasoning for a date night. I mean we dont have kids and see each other practically every night, why should we set aside a night to do the same thing we do every other night?? And so we stopped having date night. During this time we really got lazy within our marriage. For those of you who arent married, when people say marriage is hard work, they arent lying! It always confused me when people told me that, because how could hanging out with someone you love so much be work? ...

Well the hard work is not taking that for granted. (And really it applies to everything in life, not just marriage. Life is hard work.) It takes work to not go on autopilot with the things that are "routine" in our lives. It is not enough to love your husband, you have to say and show it. It is not enough to love the Lord, you have to say it and show it. So you need things like date night in your life...

Thats why I am urging you to institute a date night into your marriage. (For those of you singles reading, institute a girls night or a quality date with the Lord- whatever you are struggling to be intentional) Yes, you may be at home with your spouse every night, but setting a certain night where you both agree to only focus on you will do wonders. This will be your time to talk about anything that has been festering in your marriage, things you have been personally struggling with in life, and dream together of things to come. It may be the time that some of you do a family devotion and worship time together each week, or it may be a tradition to play a favorite game each week. Maybe you will go out and about, or maybe you will stay in and watch a movie. You may spend money or you may not spend one cent. The specifics arent important. Maybe you have young children and cant afford a sitter? Suggestions: swap babysitting time with other parents, set aside one night a month instead, or maybe just pick a night that will be your "date" night after the child/children go to bed.

Make it work for you. But make it work!

You wont regret it. But you will regret putting it off, so I challenge you this year to resolve to start this discipline, and let the Lord bless your time together.

Anyone got any other great ideas of what to do? Or maybe a tip for young mothers on how to pull it off? What about a tip for those of you who arent married? Share share share!


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