Marriage - 3/8 - Words of Williams

By Guest on June 29, 2012 8

High Five to Keep the Love Alive

This is a guest post by Maria. You can also follow her on Twitter. We love this kind of stuff, and it reminds us to always keep the playful nature alive in our marriage. We have our own set of Williamses House Rules, and this post reminds me a lot of the silly things we do as a couple. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out our guest post guidelines.

If you take your marriage seriously as a lifelong commitment and, let’s be honest, lifelong piece of work, you know how many advice books are out there. Because experts have already covered the deep insights, I’d like to share something fun.

When we were dating, my husband, “Lovey,” started our high-five tradition. I don’t think he imagined how it would stick; he was just being playful. I think that’s exactly why we enjoy it so much.

High fives are pretty common in our culture, but our game has specific “rules.” We started the habit while watching shows together. One of us would guess an outcome such as, “There’s no way they’re actually gonna to kiss. Someone’s gonna come in and interrupt them.” And if someone comes in and interrupts as predicted, the one who made the prediction gets a high five. (In case you’re wondering, we watch “Castle.”)

In Marriage

By Eric on June 7, 2012 17

The Wedding Ring: Just Another Piece of Jewelry?

Have you ever lost your wedding ring? Or at least temporarily misplaced it?

I’m a careful guy, but it’s happened to me twice in the past 5.5 years.

The first time was a few months after we were married. I got to work before I realized that I didn’t have my ring on, and I was nearly sick to my stomach. Enough to force me to drive back home over lunch (not something I ever did) to make sure that I didn’t lose it, and also for the comfort it brings me to have it on.

In Marriage

By Eric on May 30, 2012 12

My Advice for the Bachelor

I was at a bachelor party a few weekends ago.

Let me clear the air and say that there were no wolf-pack speeches, babies named Carlos or mysterious tigers in the bathroom the morning after. (I actually can’t verify that there wasn’t a tiger, I suppose, because I didn’t stay the night, but I digress.)

The agenda was pretty low-key: golfing and then out to the backwoods to a furnished cabin for dinner and bonfire.

I was lucky enough to be paired with the bachelor during our 18-hole stint on the golf course. I was slightly caught off guard eight holes in when he asked me a very direct question: What advice do you have for a bachelor about to get married?

In Marriage

By Eric on April 10, 2012 30

How a Baby Affects Our Marriage

They say “A baby changes everything.” Well, whoever they are, they are right. It seems that even sneaking away to go to the bathroom these days is a challenge with a newborn.

Kelsey and I are all about having an intentional marriage, and so when we found out we were pregnant we knew we would have to be very proactive if we wanted to keep our marriage in focus after Rooney arrived. This is proving to be more and more difficult on a daily basis.

Who knew babies were so needy?

At any given moment she takes up all the attention of at least one of us, not to mention when a crisis breaks out that necessitates “all hands on deck.” With one of us always on call, it leaves virtually no time or energy for kindling the flame that was ignited years ago. While we love our little Rooney Bear to pieces, we must eventually get our priorities back in order. (First came love, then came marriage, then came the baby in the baby carriage.)

We tried to analyze our situation in order to understand what’s going on so that we can help to meet each others’ needs as well as the needs of our baby. This is no small task, but we’ve come up with four ways that our baby is affecting our marriage, and four ways we are coping with the change. Here it goes:

In Marriage

The men of our life group are reading the Bible together. We logically started in Genesis and are reading a chapter a day and sharing our thoughts via a private Facebook page. When I read through Genesis 3, I was drawn into the consequences of original sin. Not that I hadn’t heard this before, but have you ever read something and finally God just speaks directly to you through His Word? I had that kind of a moment…

Genesis 3:16-19

16 Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

17 And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.

18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.

19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

Consequences for Women

You have probably heard the first part of verse 16, but it was the second part that really struck me. Yes, I think of the pain that Kelsey is going through daily during her pregnancy, but the second part of the verse affects her entire life. God gave women the desire to control their husbands, but men are called to be the spiritual head of the household. Talk about confusing, right? If Kelsey and I don’t understand this, it can cause a lot of friction in our relationship and divide us rather than bring us together.