One of the things couples fail to realize is that many marriage problems stem from a lack of time. You see, it takes quality time to nurture a relationship. If you are spending more time at your job or with your kids, then your marriage is bound to suffer.
Now don’t get me wrong, different seasons in life require more attention than others. For instance, when my children were young they naturally required more of my time and attention. But even then, it didn’t necessarily mean my husband only deserved the leftovers.
Time can’t always be measured in quantity. It would be impossible for most of us to actually spend more time with our spouses in that way. We do have jobs, children and homes to take care of.
What I am talking about is the quality of time. There are moments in life where we are perhaps giving more than we should to something else, when it could be time invested in our spouse.
For instance, there was a season in which I was involved in all kinds of volunteer work. I would help out at my children’s elementary school, served on the PTA, volunteered in an inner city girl’s club, participated in a variety of women’s ministry events at my church and made meals for those who were sick or had gone through surgery.
It was all good but it was too much. While I would be cooking a meal for a family in “need,” my husband would be wondering what we were going to eat. I would tell him to throw in a pizza.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying he wasn’t capable of making a meal. But the real point is that I had no time for my husband because there was so much else consuming it.
Now that our kids are teens, it is much easier to give more time to our marriage. However I recognize that even so, we need to make a real effort to keep other things from infringing on our time.
How do you manage your time so your spouse gets enough of it?
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