The Importance of Perspective in Marriage
History changes when we view the familiar from a new, unfamiliar perspective. A single photo snapped on Christmas Eve in 1968 is a great example. That’s when three NASA astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission saw Earth like no one before, seeming to rise above the moon’s horizon. After the first humans to orbit the […]
Did Quarantine Hurt Your Marriage?
One of the first predictions I noticed when COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders began was that a baby boom would happen in the winter this year, like “blizzard babies” born nine months after major winter storms. But a darker forecast also caught my eye: increased divorce filings. Lots of couples who didn’t know how to solve relationship […]
5 Signs Your Wife Needs You to Step up Your Game
NBA legend Michael Jordan, regarded by many as the best professional basketball player ever, had an unrelenting drive to be the best. As a freshman in college, he reportedly told his coach that “nobody will ever work as hard as I work.” From high school through a hall of fame career, Jordan kept looking for […]
Your Marriage: A Picture of the Perfect Future
Imagine visiting with photographers back some 40, 50 years ago to describe how we make our favorite pictures today. With high-res cameras in our phones and apps like Instagram to edit every pixel, it’s a breeze to turn an average photo into something special. They’d be blown away by how we can edit and filter […]
7 Things Husbands Should Never Be Afraid to Say to Their Wives
Every marriage encounters difficulties because of the different ways each spouse hears, processes, interprets, and responds to what the other says. Susan and I have learned through our 30 years of marriage that there are certain things a husband should say to his wife. We also have learned that more often than not, how a […]
What COVID-19 Revealed in Me
Airlines are obsessed with passenger safety, constantly inspecting aircraft for signs of corrosion and fatigue in the metal components. Microscopic cracks called stress fractures develop over repeated flights, indicating underlying damage that—if ignored—would become catastrophic. But the cracks aren’t the problem; they’re actually a gift of sorts. They show the mechanics exactly where maintenance is […]
How to Help When You’re Feeling Helpless
Anyone who has flown in the last 50 years or so has heard the safety mantra for the oxygen masks that will fall from the ceiling if you lose cabin pressure: Secure your own mask before helping others around you. That is a great sentiment. But in the upheaval of recent years’ anxious, unprecedented days, […]
How to Handle Loss, Loneliness, and Longing in Your Life
Two years before COVID-19 put “social distancing” and “working remotely” into our everyday vocabulary, healthcare company CIGNA published a report about an epidemic plaguing the country: loneliness. The global pandemic has deepened that loneliness and brought profound losses in jobs, health, and lives.
Your Marriage Was Made for Tough Times
Wedding vows declare the promises and expectations for a marriage, even though brides and grooms typically have little appreciation for what’s coming. I know I didn’t. My expectations for my marriage to Susan involved a lot of “for better” and “for richer” and “in health.” Sure, I promised “for worse” and “for poorer” and “in […]
