Occasionally I run across a couple that say they really have a great marriage, but they get stuck in the grind of day to day life. They get up early and rush around getting ready for work and school, spend the entire day apart, then rush home to feed everyone and get to sleep. Feeling like life is one crazy, hurried day after another is nothing new. In fact Ecclesiastes speaks of all the seasons of life, the toilsome labor, and the meaninglessness of it all. While we don’t like to think of our lives as meaningless, they can quickly become exactly that if you do not take the time to invest in relationships.
If you would like to invest in your marital relationship and make your marriage more meaningful, here are three great things you can enjoy together while strengthening and enriching your relationship.
Take a Personality Inventory
A personality inventory is an assessment designed to give you a glimpse into your personality and/or behaviors. After you and your spouse complete the quiz, take some time to go over the results together and review your results. Discuss the areas where you feel the results seem to fit and where they do not. Look at some of the limitations of your personality and then discuss the ways that you might work to overcome those limitations.
There are hundreds of choices when it comes to taking a personality inventory, but here are a few of our favorites:
Color Code
SYMBIS Assessment
5 Love Languages
Smalley/Trent Animal Kingdom
Enjoy a Marriage Getaway
Spending a weekend together and focusing on different aspects of your marriage such as communication, parenting, finances, sexual intimacy, or just having fun together can make your marriage far more meaningful. Spending time together, just as you did as newlyweds or even when you were dating, can reignite the passion and even give you the much needed endurance to face another year of “toilsome labor”.
Here are some great weekend events that will challenge your marriage while making you laugh, and love again:
Weekend to Remember
International Marriage Conference
Marriage Encounter
Date Night Comedy
Invest in Daily Devotions and Prayer
Praying with your spouse daily can dramatically decrease your risk of divorce. I have personally seen how difficult it is to be angry or frustrated after a rough morning just by holding hands with my husband and praying over each other. When you both press into God in the form of prayer and devotionals you will not only grow in your marriage, but you will also grow in your personal relationship with God.
Here are some wonderful devotional books that can guide you as you take this next step in making your marriage more meaningful:
Just Us: Finding Intimacy with God and Each other – David & Jan Stoop
Devotions for a Sacred Marriage – Gary L. Thomas
Moments with You: Daily Connections for Couples – Dennis & Barbara Rainey
Night Light: A Devotional for Couples – James & Shirley Dobson