We don’t fit the mold

We celebrated Valentine’s Day on Saturday.  Husbands, no need to panic, you didn’t miss it!  Brad and I decided to capitalize on a rare free Saturday evening and celebrate a week before the price of roses doubles and a dinner out drains half our entertainment budget for the year!

The pragmatic approach might leave some romantics disappointed but for us it was very fitting.  We’ve come a long way from our first disastrous Valentine’s Day!  (Check out my blog from Feb. 14, 2011)

February 8th was the perfect day to celebrate a love that continues to grow, mature and break the mold!  We work hard at loving each other but we rarely follow the templates many in the “marriage business” suggest.  We hardly ever go out on dates, we don’t do Bible studies together and the last vacation just the two of us took was our honeymoon 21½ years ago.  It’s not that those aren’t great things to strive for but for reasons I won’t go into here, they haven’t worked for us.

What has worked for us is a fierce commitment to communicate even when it seems we will never understand one another, seeking to love the other in his/her love language not our own, sharing our spiritual journey and what we’re learning from the Bible even if we can’t “study” it together, praying together every day about everything, keeping our focus on God first—marriage second, and laughter—lots of laughter.  (and a little chocolate never hurts!)

How about you?  What are the things you do to keep relationships strong?

Can you apply any of those principles to your relationship with God?  The Lover of your soul longs to communicate with you, share His truth with you, laugh with you and share life with you!!  It takes work, but it is soooo worth it!