Date Night

So, last night my wife and I had a mini-date night. It wasn't that extravagant. Movie and dinner in the food court at the mall. We've had better. We had some cheap movie tickets and wanted to just make it a quick date. But, even 'mini-date nights' are important. There are things that happen that are tangible when we get away like that.

• We hold hands more. Maybe it's because we're not holding other little hands or pushing a stroller, but it's a good thing.


• The tension is released. We get to be us. We don't have to be parents for a couple of hours.


• The conversation is different. We talk about the future, the kids. We talk about life. We enjoy each other


• The meal is stress free. It's nice not to have to feed someone else or clean up everone else's mess.


• We serve each other. We spend so much time serving our children, that we it's hard to serve each other when the kids are around. It's nice to serve one another

I think a lot of marriage problems could me solved over dinner without kids. I think parents get in a rut of not knowing how to be anything but parents. Raising kids is stressful. It's the most stressful job on the planet. I recently said that starting a church was the hardest thing I've ever done except parenting. Parenting never gives you a moment off. In the midst of that stress parents often forget who they really are and who they fell in love with in the first place.

Marriage is a lot of work. You hear people say that all the time. But it's not rocket science. It simply takes discipline to do the things that will nurture our relationship with each other. If we're not doing that, then we're not investing what we need to invest in our spouse. It's simple. You probably fell in love taking walks, sitting over a table of good food or holding hands at a movie. Keep falling. Keep doing the things that led you there. Date nights, even a mini-date night, sure can solve a lot.