Stale Marriage and Successful Parenting

I find it interesting that the first human institution God created was marriage.
Its importance is clear in the words of Genesis 1:27, where we see that the
relationship between a man and woman actually reflects the image of God. In
Genesis 2:18 God declared it was “not good” for man to be alone, and in Genesis
2:24 He calls for a husband and wife to be “one flesh”—a physical, emotional,
and spiritual union.

That’s why I emphasize at marriage conferences that the marriage relationship
should be paramount in the home, even over parenting. If you are a parent, one
of the greatest gifts you can give your children is a healthy, happy, and stable
relationship with your spouse.

The challenge, of course, is that it’s very easy to drift into isolation after
you are married. Often a husband and wife begin drifting apart so slowly that
they hardly recognize it. Then, after a few years of poor communication, they
realize that their love life has grown stale. That’s why many successful-looking
marriages aren’t much more than two successful people independently doing their
own thing—they aren’t friends and life-partners. And when that happens, the
children suffer.

Here are two keys for battling the drift toward staleness and isolation in
your marriage:

First, seek God by regularly praying together as a couple. Shortly after we
were married in 1972, Barbara and I began praying every day together. I believe
this one spiritual discipline has done more for our marriage and family than
any other thing we have done. Why? Because it’s tough to pray with someone you’re
ticked off at! We have found that we either resolve the problem and pray, or
go to sleep angry. So we seek to build bridges of understanding between us and
forgive one another before praying.

Second, spend time together to build intimacy and romance into your relationship.
When you were dating and first considering marriage, you probably developed
many creative ways to woo and attract each other. But after your children arrived,
did your romance begin to fizzle?

You may be thinking, “How can you plan romance? It’s supposed to be spontaneous!”
Sometimes that is true. But it’s hard to be spontaneous when you have children.
Many couples attending our conferences say they haven’t
been on a date in over a year. Even more shocking is the fact that some haven’t
been away alone together overnight since their honeymoon!

How long has it been for you? A great way to avoid or overcome staleness is
to get away to spend some time together. Your kids will thank you for it.

SourceThis article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org

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