Would you also like to read a devotion from Pearl?
My husband and I attended a New Year’s Eve function where we sat at a table with people we had never met before. About halfway through the evening we mentioned our five children. The couple sitting opposite us acted surprised that we had children together.
"How long have you been married?" they asked. When we told them 19 years, the husband shook his head and chuckled. He had presumed we were newlyweds! His wife admitted she wondered the same thing. I asked why and the man said, “It’s the way you act together, how you look at each other.”
My husband and I do not act like we are all over each other when we are out, but we usually hold hands or touch in some way. It’s a habit we’ve formed. We still gravitate to one another when we are in a group of people; we enjoy conversations with others but never separate completely in a social gathering. Who could be more important to me than him?
There are many reasons we could have ended up like the typical stereotype of a bored and passionless, long-time married couple. We’ve gone through the same issues that most married couples have that threaten passion and intimacy: children, challenging years, health concerns, financial stressors—so many excuses to drift into relational complacency.
Our strong bond is only because we choose to cultivate it every day. As with food, you change destructive habits with better, fun ones day by day and yes, the results are fantastic!
~ Pearl Barrett (Trim Healthy Mama)
This devotion also comes from the book, 100 DAYS OF INSPIRATION (Three generations sharing their family wisdom).