A Marriage that Soars Like Gabby!

Gabby Douglas didn't do well in last night's olympics. She made a mistake on the uneven bars and came in last in the competition. This morning I watched her error over and over and over again as each morning news show focused on her failure. With all of Gabby's accomplishments, it's sad the media gave such attention to her oops!

Is this what we do with a spouse? A husband or wife makes a mistake and the imperfect performance repeats over and over in our brains until memories of the gold medal days are wiped away?

Gabby, hold your head high! My overweight body and brain sits on the couch and applauds you for the work and sacrifice and dedication and the two gold medals hanging from your neck and gracing your heart and our country.

Husbands and wives, let go of your spouses' flaws and hold on to the gold. When a bad performance replays in your mind, please change the channel and think about "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things." Phil. 3:8

Then you will be a splash of serenity to your spouse and and your marriage will soar!

Hold on to the gold! Let go of the mistakes!

In Your Marriage Race, Go for the Gold

Watching the Olympics,  I'm amazed at the strength and power the human body can endure. I admire the Olympians who train and sacrifice and refuse to give up. What drives that passion? I'm not sure. I doubt it's for the gold medal which the news reported was worth all of $5. Something within them wants to be the best they can be for themselves and their country.

Shouldn't that be our passion for our marriage? Shouldn't we train and sacrifice and refuse to give up? I find it unbelievable that athletes put more effort into an olympic event than the average person does to care for their marriage. Why is that?

I write in my book We All Married Idiots that marathon runners train by watching videos of runners  winning the race. I suspect Olympians do the same. They watch and rewatch gold medal recipients and learn what they did right and how to avoid doing wrong.

This is not true for marriage. We sit in front of the television night after night watching movies and sitcoms of one failing marriage after another. We don't study how to make marriage work. We learn how to let it fail.

 I was told at a marriage retreat years ago to read one book on marriage a month. That's a lot of books.

 Just as an olympic athlete learns every detail of his sport so he can be the best at it, I suggest we study how to make marriage work. It will take determination, self-sacrifice, and passion.

I know for me and my marriage, I want to go for the Gold! Our Golden Anniversary! And then the Golden Streets of Heaven! I'm running with my honey for the Gold! How about you?

Looking forward to lots of Splashes of Serenity along the way!