Today’s dating scene is everything from casual to complicated. However, the majority of dating seems to hinge on two important themes: entertainment and connection.
We date to have fun, enjoy ourselves, and explore common interests. We also date to get to know a person, see how they act in specific situations, investigate if we truly enjoy spending time with that person.
Once a couple gets married, the dating usually stops. It’s no longer about enjoyment and connection, but about combining two lives together, two schedules, two budgets, two sets of priorities. Then babies come, and it’s about rearing precious, but not always easy, children.
While all of those elements in marriage are important, if you don’t continue to date your spouse—continue to pursue them and spend time for the sole purpose of connecting and enjoying each other—you will drift apart.
Part of our journey in learning how to date each other led us to an unexpected discovery: how ballroom dancing mirrored responses in leadership and submission in our own marriage. Exploring and applying God’s purpose of marriage, the concept of two becoming one, and the responses of leadership and submission became a crucial cornerstone in our marriage and in the marriage mentor group curriculum we teach.
Join us as we further investigate these concepts in this 3-part #BecomingOne series.
All newlyweds face initial adjustments or difficulties in the early stages of their marriage, but the key is how we respond and learn from those difficulties for the next round of trials and adjustments life will bring.
Just as conflict is inevitable between two married sinners, external trials and hardships are also to be expected. It’s not a question of “if”, but “when”. So how do we respond to external trials that impact our marriages? How do we shift expectations and position ourselves to grow closer together through the trials rather than drift apart?
As most couples approach marriage, each partner holds unrealistic expectations and unknown expectations. Our unrealistic expectations stem from a lack of true understanding of what marriage really is, but our unknown expectations can be even trickier, leaving us frustrated and confused but not entirely sure why.