Last week I read book titled, Letters to Philip. It was written by Charlie W. Shedd. It is a series of letters from a father who is a pastor and counselor on the topic of marriage and specifically on a man's role in it. Now I'm not married, so take my opinion as one who has no first hand experience with a wife. I enjoyed it so much that I read the entire book in two days. (not a spectacular feat in itself, the book isn't that large, but considering my schedule...) In fact I thought it was so insightful that I went and checked out the sister book of, Letters to Karen, written by the same man. I am now planning on going back and rereading the book slowly. Often, especially in the christian community, I think we don't properly prepare the next generation for marriage. It isn't a surprise to me when the divorce rate is higher than 50%. How many huge decisions will you make life near to the importance of finding a wife (or husband)? Career and college are the closest of which I can think. The book was less on finding a wife, though I have read several on that subject, and more on describing how to relate to your wife and common problems and solutions. Like I said I've never been married so my praise of the book is both untested and difficult to articulate. I found the 29 letters worth reading and I hope to one day discover if his ideas actually work.
Were you well prepared for marriage? How do you plan on preparing your children for the big decision? Finally, if you are married, what do you love most about your spouse?
My wife and will be celebrating our first anniversary this coming weekend. What a wonderful year it has been! Quite different from many of the stories that I heard (and continue to hear.)
ReplyDeleteI think the difference for us is that we spent a lot of time working things out beforehand. We didn't dive into romantic pursuits, but spent a lot of time together with her family and with friends. We paid a lot of attention to each other's character. In a nutshell, we pursued the relationship with an end in mind, "how should we do things to have the strongest possible marriage or, if we decide we shouldn't get married, how can we incur the least amount of emotional damage?"
What I love most about my wife is her sassiness/joie de vivre. It's very cute, but it's also a testament to her not playing dumb games.