Take four couples. One newlywed couple, two couples who have recently celebrated a quarter century together and an inbetweener couple married for fourteen years. Add some great materials i.e. FamilyLife’s Together group workbooks, a few glasses of wine and what do you have? A powerful recipe for strengthening togetherness, apparently.
Our Together group recently celebrated the end of our course with a meal out together in a local restaurant. Together is invariably a great way of making new friends as couples, of scratching beneath the surface in conversations amongst couples, a rare thing in our society today. We’ve found it’s a way of building community and supporting one another in building values that really matter.
For some of us, the course has resulted in significant change, for others, a gentle reminder of what’s important. One couple shared their story of breakthrough like this…
T is not very practical. He’s really clever, a brilliant Dad and very successful in his work but is rather absent minded. I’m the opposite, as a nurse, I am really down to earth and practical. So I have tended to tell him what to do, rather a lot and after years of parenting, had slipped into a bit of a parental role with him in this regard. After one of our sessions he told me he doesn’t want me to ‘micro manage’ him anymore. And things are so much better between us. It’s taken the responsibility off of me and really helped our relationship as a couple.
Our newlywed couple really took on board the concept of couple time, taking weekly time together to chat through the deeper issues of life, rather than rushing through life on Fast Forward and never quite connecting.
For most of us, the benefits were in focussing on our relationship and valuing one another – the course was a gentle reminder that being together is important and we need to invest in our relationships if we are not to drift apart. And we are looking forward to keeping in touch in the years ahead and going out for the occasional celebration meal together as life unfolds.
Thanks FamilyLife for keeping us Together!
by Sally McIver
Together is a nine-session group resource that tackles questions such as “Can we have a marriage that is ‘alive and kicking’?” and “How do we make a good marriage great?”. Marriage, as the Bible makes clear, was God’s idea and the Together study invites couples to look at God’s plan for marriage and to address ‘real life’ issues, such as improving communication, resolving conflict and expressing love. Visit www.togetherinmarriage.org for more information.