so, about my abs

as mentioned before, my abs have separated.  it's been sad.  as a good friend suggested, my goal is to convince them they're still in love and bring them back together.

the problem is that i haven't been very consistent.  i love a new week though.  i got up and before i went out to exercise, i got on the floor for my ab exercises and realized they were further apart than they were before...when was that?  a week or two ago?  ah man!  they'd gone further apart!

i honestly thought that i had worked them so well that as i continued to work in my garden or around my house and take a sporadic bike ride now and again, that they would keep going together!  what was i thinking?  and in maybe a two weeks time or less they were worse!  serious bummer! but just think, what if i'd waited six months to work on them or even check?!


so here i am.  i think my abs can teach us a lot about marriage.  :)

we've got to check on our relationships and make sure we're still coming together.  if we check often, then we can work on what needs changing.

even better would be if we do what i need to do with my abs and simply, work on it often!

what does regular marriage exercise look like?

the things that come to my mind are things that bring us closer.

* quality time

* excellent kissing

* looking out for each other

* enjoying each other, laughing together

* listening & encouraging

* gift giving

so, some specific apples for each of those are:

* set up a date for any day.  even if it is for a half hour.  get away from your house/ kids /t.v. Go to bed at the same time.  pray together.

* walk right up to that love of yours...make sure their hands aren't full or they aren't mad and kiss em nice and sweet. (not the kind of sweet that you'd kiss your mom, remember, they're your lover)

* pay attention to what they have going on...if you don't know, ask.  if there is something obvious you can do to help them out, do it.  if there isn't anything obvious, ask.  help them.

* youtube is full of funny things to watch or pandora radio has plenty of comedians to listen to.  laugh together!  few things are more bonding.

* when they talk to you, listen.  don't plan your next response, just listen.  put down what you're doing, sit next to them or across from them or whatever.  just show them you want to hear what they're saying.

* encourage them all the time.  with a smile, with your actions, with your words.  i know i do my very best when i feel like Zach believes in me.

* during the summer there are a lot of free flowers growing on the side of the road.  well, where we live.  anyway, some gifts are free.  you can make theme a treat and take it to their office, slide it under their door.  pick up a magazine, book, article, crossword puzzle book-slide it under the bathroom door when you know they'll be there a while.  leave a gift on the seat of their car for them to find in the morning.

wow.  i think my ab finding this morning really got me thinking.  that's a lot of apples.

i think there are few of us that really understand how important it is for us to take care of our relationship with our spouse.  we can't neglect it and expect it to be what it was intended to be.  in my opinion, it was intended to be a blessing in every sense of that word.

i thought my abs would continue to get stronger if i didn't specifically work on them but i would flex them as i did other things.  this would have been good if i had exercised my abs as well.  the same is true with our marriages.  we must be certain we are actually working on our marriage.  just thinking about it or being aware of it, is not enough.  we must do specific things to make our marriages stronger.  i hope that one day we will not be as shocked with what our marriages have turned out to be, as i was with my abs.

i am amazed at the comfort i find in my companionship with Zach.  i love being married.  i hope this reminder will be good motivation for all of us to work specifically on our marriages.  they are worth the price.  oh, they are so worth the price.

i hope you have a great week!