Twenty Minutes a Day: Marriage Challenge

The following is a great little devotional thought from Dennis and Barbara Rainey's book entitled  "Moments with You".  As I re-read it (saved this on my computer a few years back), I was again challenged to MAKE TIME for Shawn in the midst of our busy lives.....hope it can challenge AND encourage you at the same time! 

Twenty Minutes a Day


I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.  Philippians 1:3

Bill Eyster, a key member of our executive team at FamilyLife, told me recently about a friend of his who had received a new guitar as a gift. It was something this man had always wanted -- he had hoped he could learn to play the guitar at some point in his life. So with the encouragement of his wife and children, he started spending about 20 minutes each evening learning chords and picking out notes.

Funny what 20 minutes a night can do. Before long, he had worked up to playing a few simple songs. His family was getting a big kick out of it, singing along as he began playing things they could actually recognize. How fun! A new, learned skill was bringing music (and sometimes laughter) into his home -- and the joy of accomplishment into his heart.

This resulted in Bill wondering: Everybody has at least a little free time, sprinkled here and there through the day or in the evening. Some spend it on the Internet. Some spend it watching TV or movies. Some spend it shopping or reading or scrapbooking. But what if we invested just a few of those moments -- 20 minutes, say -- spending concentrated time and effort on our most important earthly relationship, our marriage?

What if, instead of using our free time to get better at golf or photography or Cajun cooking, we used it to become a godly wife or husband? What if we used that same amount of time to take a walk together? What if we used it just to deliberately think about how to invest in our spouse -- to brainstorm our next gift idea, to plan a romantic evening, to choose a certain chore we could take off our spouse's hands?

It takes focus for a marriage relationship to grow. And focus takes time.

Discuss:  Talk about where you could get 15 to 20 minutes together several times a week. What are the time wasters you could eliminate to get some time back for one another?

Pray: Ask God to help you see your marriage as a daily adventure.

From Moments with You, by Dennis and Barbara Rainey