Beautiful Intentionality

My husband and I are taking a marriage class at our church. Have we learned groundbreaking things about how to keep our marriage alive and how to reignite that age old flame? Not really. But are we demonstrating to one another our commitment and loyalty by attending the class together? We sure are.

The word intentionality came up about a dozen times in our class. Are we intentional about spending time together? Marriage demands time and attention if you want it to thrive, as does anything really. Some of the talks my husband and I have are time spent hashing through deep and ugly issues. Then again, some of talks we do little talking and instead find ourselves laughing most of the time at ourselves.

There are so many things we choose to be intentional about. I know my list includes, writing, making sure my children feel loved and develop a spirit of resiliency and faith, reaching out to loved ones, delving into creative projects, healing from the past, etc. I show intentionality in many areas of life. My marriage is one area that has the potential to reap the most rewards. There’s nothing like having a best friend and romantic partner to laugh with and to go through life with. When we allow this relationship to slip away as a priority, we put our core relationship at risk and the rest of our life can suffer because of it.

So when I wrote that we aren’t necessarily learning groundbreaking things, I was mistaken. We are being reminded of how essential it is to live with intentionality in our marriage. Hearing that reminder shakes things up a bit and it’s good to be shaken once in awhile.