7 Secrets to an Awesome MarriageSample

BALANCE: Scheduling for a Better Marriage

As a kid growing up, I had balance down to an art. I could do tricks on my bike that drew a crowd of other neighborhood kids every time I performed. It was awesome. Yet as a married young adult, I had no idea what balance in a marriage was all about. My balance in marriage was awful.

The first time that I heard the analogy of a man being the hunter who pursues the woman of his dreams, I did not get it. As hunters we pull out all the stops to get her, but once we do - once she says "yes" and the ring is on her finger - we go out to conquer other things. We quit pursuing her and move on to a career or a hobby or something else. (Thank you, Dr. James Dobson. I just wish I had listened.)

I guess the best way to define balance in a marriage is to keep your spouse number two. In the first years of our marriage, I did a really bad job of balance. I pursued a career and tennis and running and working in the yard and friends, and Nancy went from being my number two to way down my list. You would have to ask her where she felt she fell on my list of things that are important. So the time in our marriage that almost ended it was in direct correlation to a marriage that was terribly out of balance. God gave me a wakeup call and another chance. I had to get this balance thing down. You know what I learned? Getting our marriage in balance took a lot of work, but I found that I liked my life in balance a lot better that a life not in balance. I liked putting Nancy number two and when I put her number two, guess where she put me? Yep, I was now her number two.

This is the cool thing God taught me. I am busier today than I have ever been, but if you asked Nancy where she ranked in my life, she would without hesitation say she was number two! I ask God to show me what I need to do each day for Nancy to know how much I love her and how important she is to me. You know what? He does!

Prayer: Ask God to show you where you are out of balance in your marriage and then ask Him to help you put your marriage into balance.