Operation Machete
In our present culture, you ask a couple to find 3-5 hours a week to spend together on a date, and you’d think you asked them to jump out of an airplane. As long as finding time for one another is a big ask, marriage will continue to struggle.
There is a fundamental concept called “time blocking.” This is where you block off time for something and refuse to schedule over it. Apply time blocking to marriage. Block off thirty minutes every day to just talk with your spouse and at least three hours every week to get away from the house and just enjoy one another.
If marriage gets fatigued leftovers, it will continue to decline and move toward irrelevance. If a movement starts where marriage is prioritized and invested in, marriage can gain traction and grow.
We respect and show up for appointments and obligations with others. Why not do the same for our spouse? They are our most crucial horizontal relationship. We wouldn’t just no-show for a doctor’s appointment or a meeting with a friend. Let’s start giving our spouse the same respect.
Why doesn’t this happen more? For many, they are just too busy. Kids’ sporting events, work, responsibilities, and church obligations all add up, and boom, there is no time for the marriage. It takes discipline and effort to avoid just adding things to the wagon until it is about to break.
For me, finding time to spend with God and my wife has been too big of a struggle. I realize I am trying to do too many things. They are all good things, but it is too much. If this is you, join me on what I call “Operation Machete” and start chopping things off your schedule to make time for Jesus and one another.
- Am I typically hurried?
- Do I have trouble finding quiet time with the Lord?
- Do I regularly feel like there is more to do than time to do it?
- Is dating my spouse a challenge?
- Is it hard for me to say “no” when someone asks me to do something?
- Do I spend more time at kids’ sporting events than I do with my spouse?
- Am I regularly late to appointments or social events?
- Do I live under pressure?
- Is being tired a normal state for me?
- Is it hard for me to sit still and be alone?
If your answer to most of these questions was “yes”, you need to make changes so relationship can be more primary. I have started making some changes and have already felt a reduction in my overall stress levels.
