Daly Focus Blog
“The Song” debuts today, and it’s a great date night movie option for couples looking to be both entertained and edified.
The film gives a unique, modern take to the ancient texts of Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. It follows fledgling musician Jed, son of the late, great David King, as he tries to make a name for himself apart from his famous dad. Along the way, Jed falls in love, gets married, and faces some tough temptations.
Sometimes you find good relationship advice in the strangest places – like an online review for a film.
Time magazine recently highlighted “112 Weddings,” a documentary by filmmaker and wedding videographer David Block. In it, he follows up on about a dozen of those couples whose weddings he has filmed over the years to see how those marriages fared.
The review includes Block’s best advice on marriage. His take?
“Pick wisely.” He also advises husbands and wives to stay flexible and accept imperfections.
When you first got married, did you assume your relationship with your spouse would remain pretty much the same from year to year?
Many couples do.
That’s probably why so many wind up shocked and utterly confused when life around them changes … and their marriage along with it.
According to our guests on today’s program, relationship experts Bill and Pam Farrel, the key is to recognize that changes are coming – probably sooner than we think – and to prepare for them.
The release and indefinite suspension earlier this week of (former) Baltimore Ravens football player Ray Rice has stirred up a robust discussion about domestic violence.
A videotape of the 27-year-old running back punching his then-fiancee, Janay, inside an Atlantic City casino hotel elevator surfaced on Monday. The incident occurred in March, and was reported to both NFL and team officials. Rice pleaded not guilty to third-degree aggravated assault and agreed to enter a rehabilitation program and get counseling.
Doris Amrine called the police after her husband went missing.
Her worry was understandable. Three years after Melvyn’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, he needs help to accomplish tasks like walking around the block. With his memory slipping away, Melvyn has trouble remembering how he had proposed to his wife of 60 years.
But the story I want to share with you today isn’t about what Melvyn has forgotten – it’s about what he remembered on the day he left the house.
Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned roller coaster? Yet, as exciting as they are, even the most ardent thrill seekers wouldn’t choose to ride one every day for the rest of their lives.
Sadly, we hear from many husbands and wives who feel as if their marriage has become one long, scary, roller coaster ride. Things are up and down, unpredictable, unstable, and just not fun anymore. And many of these couples are looking for a way out.
I often feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends. I imagine the same may be true for you.
No matter how much we get done, there’s always one more thing to do.
And rest? There’s hardly time for that, is there?
I confess I’ve had moments where relaxing seemed like a waste of time. It felt like the absence of something – like an empty space where productivity ought to be – rather than an active and beneficial component to my life.
I tried this little exercise once and found it revealing. Maybe you’d find it helpful as well.
It works like this:
Write down everything you do in a typical week. Among other things, your list might include working at your job, enjoying a hobby, or tinkering with projects around the house.
Next, place a check mark by the items you do out of obligation, and a heart by the activities you do from a sense of passion.
Over sixty years ago, Earl Nightingale, a former United States Marine who had been one of only twelve survivors of the bombing of the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, struck upon an idea.
At the time of his epiphany, he was an announcer at the legendary Chicago radio station WGN. Residents of the Windy City were drawn to his soothing, sonorous voice. But it was off the air, while reading a book by Napoleon Hill, a well-known motivational writer and speaker of that era, that Nightingale’s revelation came to him, like “a bolt out of the blue,” he said.
When you ask couples which household issues influence the success of a marriage, things like kids and finances usually rise to the top.
But did you know that chores rank third on that list?!
How can something as simple as housework fuel conflict in a marriage?
Rather easily it turns out. As we all know, life gets busy. Not long after the “I do’s,” couples tend to get focused on (or maybe I should say, “distracted by”) the household tasks they care about, while forgetting the burdens their spouse is carrying.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
