Tag: Marriage

When you are young, you think that becoming an adult is going to be a series of learning how to do important things, and getting better and better at doing those things.

We’ve all experienced the negative impact of criticism, especially from loved ones. Sadly, it’s been present in our marriage and family far too often.

Kevin and Helen Wagner were so ready for children after their marriage in 2005 that Helen “sobbed for days” the first time she realised they had not conceived.

Over the past decade, we’ve frequently had frustrated husbands or wives approach us for help. Their marriage was in trouble, but their spouse was...

Arguments mean different things in different circumstances. An argument is defined as a work of persuasion. We use arguments to convince others of our point of view.

We all like to think of ourselves as good communicators. Unfortunately, that usually means, “I have lots to say and I’m not afraid to say it.” That’s because a lot of people equate being talkative with good communication.

Many married couples think that their sexual intimacy is completely separate from their spiritual life. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear couples talk as though these two aspects of their lives are in opposition to each other—that their lovemaking is “permitted” but somehow compromises their path to holiness.

In a fast-paced world, our attention is a rare and valuable commodity. Is your marriage suffering from attention deficit? True confession: some evenings you’ll find us sitting on the couch with the TV playing and us both on our laptops or other individual devices. We know; it’s not particularly noble and we have a sense of unease with it.

Several years ago, we were invited onto a TV breakfast show to talk about marriage. We are all familiar with the format; people interviewed on couches with a polite live studio audience. It’s light and airy entertainment; sort of fairy floss for the mind.

Last week, radio station 2DayFM hosted its Wedding for One, an event that featured nine women making vows to love themselves for the rest of their lives. Aged in their 30s and 40s, some of these women had been married before, some have never been brides. Some have kids, others don’t. One even had grandkids.

We were struck recently by an old quote that somehow felt like a timely reminder to us as we progress through Lent: “The Church doesn’t have a mission: the Mission has a Church”.

We’ve heard the story many times: following his baptism by John, Jesus spends forty days in the desert. What strikes us is the juxtaposition...