so a while ago, after ten rounds of brett andy voting [jack handeyesque wannabe quotes i'm working on improving - some good, some bad, some ugly, but every now and then i just hit it.] i was going to do a massive best of vote in which i picked all my top ones and got people to pick the best of the best... but then i changed computers and all my brett andy voting results [...]
the series continues to breathe and i hope no-one is getting tired cos there is still a lot of great stuff to come - this bit of advice on how to grow a strong marriage comes from my older sister Susan Minne: We have been married for just over 20 years. I don't think we have ever stopped dating (still on honeymoon). I suppose if I have to choose one key thing (hard to choose [...]
i met this guy when he was part of a not-so-famous band when they came and played at the teacher's college i was studying at. Then i met him later when he was part of a famous band in south africa and over the years kept bumping into him and he always recognised me and treated me as if we were mates even though we didn't really know each other so well - and then [...]
another day, some more challenging and insightful advice on how to build a strong marriage relationship by my friend Lauren McGill: I think the thing that makes my marriage more special than any other relationship in my life is the vulnerability. I remember in our first few years of marriage, sharing something that had been eating away at me with j. I was so broken and ashamed, really believing after he had seen this ugliness [...]
the other day i saw this cartoon that someone had posted on facebook that was pretty funny but involved hitler in a way that i knew would be offensive to a lot of jewish people. so i immediately wrote the girl who had posted it an email [more a friend of a friend than a direct friend] and just before i hit the send key i stopped for a moment, reread what i had written [...]
...and the series continues, and will continue to [i still have a bunch of posts to come and some very long ones] because i think this is becoming an incredible resource and because you don't necessarily have to read and ingest it all now - bookmark it, print it out, come back to it later, read it with your spouseperson and speak about what things you can add to or subtract from your marriage to [...]
I still have about a week's worth of marriage-enhancing tips/advice to share as it is such an important topic it needs great attention and also because people are so different, every marriage will be different and so different advice or thoughts or ideas will relate to different people - so trust you will find something that impacts you and your marriage [or future marriage] strongly. This collection of thoughts really struck me as powerful and [...]
i have purposefully tried to get different voices as i ask friends of mine who are married well for their opinions on what can help to make a marriage strong and while a lot of my friends have only been married for under ten years, it is clearly an advantage to hear from those who have walked longer and gone through much more, and so it is a privilege for me to share some words [...]
my friend Rob takes the advice on how to create a strong marriage thing in a bit of a different direction with this solid advice: Lock the escape hatch and throw away the key. With no way out we are left to work through our challenges together and become the purposed display or shadow of Christ and his bride to the world. On a practical level: - Give yourselves to the process of holiness more [...]
Great words of marriage wisdom from my good friend Debbie [who once taught me how to play 30 Seconds, for the second time] Realize that in the difficult stuff you are NOT against each other. Together, as a Team, face the issue. Don't put it in between you. LISTEN to each other's NEEDS. Actively love, in words, in actions, in selflessness, in putting their needs above your own. Can I just throw in there that [...]