Marriage and Activities

​Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
 
Statistically, a couple has a greater chance of divorce at three different stages of their marriage. Most divorces happen in the first year. The second most divorces occur in the seventh year. The third most divorces happen at twenty-five or thirty years. We can imagine the reasons for the one-year and seven-year divorces. Why would a married couple divorce after spending much of their life together?
 
Unfortunately, many married couples believe the lie that their children are more important than their spouses. So, when the children move away, the married couple is left in an empty house with a spouse they do not know anymore. Or, even worse, a spouse they have grown to hate through years of neglect.
 
I can see it. I look at marriages around me and wonder how they can sustain the pace. Both parents work. When they aren’t working, they chase their children around to activities and sports: sacrificing time as a family and time as a couple on the altar of their children’s whims.
 
We as parents can make excuses about how these activities are great opportunities, how sports teach character, how our child needs everything on their schedule so that they can get a scholarship, etc. 
 
However, we must realize that our children need parents who love each other. When a child sees their parents kissing in the kitchen, they have security. When a child sees their parents work through issues and love each other despite hurts, they realize they are also valued.  When a child sees parents modeling a godly relationship, they will want that same relationship.
 
An engaged couple stands before an altar and vows to love each other until death takes one away. We must guard that vow, not allowing anything to take it away—not even our kids and their activities.
 
So, when was the last time you went on a date? When was the last time you told your child that he couldn’t do an activity because you needed to spend time with your wife? When was the last time you told your daughter that she could not play a sport because you needed time as a family?
 
Are you willing to do what it takes to stay together so your child can thrive?