5 Ways to Prioritize Your Marriage This Year
I’m making it a goal to make marriages a priority this year: yours AND mine. When we invest time and energy into growing together as couples, we’re better prepared to parent our children and do life together as a family. Here are five ways to prioritize your marriage this year…
(This article was originally written in 2015 – some of the content has been updated.)
2014 was a difficult year for my marriage. Not so much because of a strained relationship or issues between my husband and I, but mostly because we weren’t able to spend much “alone” time together during the year. And a lack of quality time together leads to “distance” in our relationship.
As we spent the last year in transition, we spent a LOT of time living in two separate states and/or towns. While I stayed with the kids, my husband lived with my parents (for six months), with us (for three months), with his parents (for three months), and then back with us (for the last three months). And even when we were both living under the same roof, he was working crazy hours and we rarely saw each other.
Let’s just say that living “separate lives” isn’t the way to grow together as a married couple, and now that we’re under one roof and he’s working normal hours again, we are excited to make our marriage relationship a priority this year.
5 Ways to Make Your Marriage a Priority
1. Schedule a Regular “Just the Two of Us” Date
Get out your calendar right now and circle at least two days each month when you will schedule a “just the two of us” date time. By identifying the dates at the beginning of the year, you can block out the time and schedule the rest of your busy lives around them, keeping them a priority.
We keep a family calendar on the refrigerator, and I’m planning to add our regular date nights to it!
Here’s a list of 25 Frugal Date Night Ideas.
2. Plan a “Just the Two of Us” Get Away
Nothing rejuvenates our relationship more than being able to get away for a night or two without the kids. Even if we just leave the kids with the grandparents and get a hotel room in the next town over, we enjoy being able to reconnect outside of our “normal” environment. We aim to schedule at least one “getaway” each year.
3. Read a Book Together
My husband and I enjoy reading book series together.
We each read at our own pace and then discuss the books as we have each finished them, and when the books become movies, it’s a perfect date night for us!
4. Study the Scriptures Together
This is one area we’ve failed to make a priority in our marriage – growing spiritually together. But it’s probably THE most important area of our marriage. So it’s one area I definitely want to prioritize this year.
We’re still discussing it, but I think we’ll be doing an inductive Bible study together this coming year.
5. Pray for Your Spouse
Praying together and praying for one another are key for helping us keep our perspective on life and one another in proper alignment.
Sign up for the 31 Days to Pray for Your Spouse Challenge!
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Is making your marriage a priority a goal for the new year?
It is so important to stay aware of your partner to keep your marriage healthy and successful! Love this post! #client
Being aware of the other person in a relationship is key to making the relationship grow. I think too often we tend to go through life assuming we’re on the same page (I know I do), only to find out “too late” that we’re not. I definitely don’t want to take my husband for granted, and I’m looking forward to making “connecting” a priority this year!
My favorite idea in this post is the idea of printing out your calendar at the beginning of the year and circling date nights. I may just need to try this! #client
Being intentional and planning ahead is an easy way to make date night happen!
Yes! I love other couples who are prioritizing their marriage. We’ve been trying hard to prioritize date night this year and it’s made a world of difference! Newest follower by the way, thank you to Pinterest for helping me find you :)
Amberly | A Prioritized Marriage
Hooray for connecting via Pinterest!
My husband works away and its so hard on us to be separated so I try to go stay with him when I can and try to plan things to reconnect when he’s off. Love this post. We have 2 kids and I homeschool so that its easier to travel with him when we can.
That’s so great, Regina! We have homeschooled our kids and loved the flexibility it offered when my husband’s work schedule was non-traditional. What a blessing to be able to travel with him!
I agree. Its definitely a blessing.
Yes! Yes! Yes! and Yes!
Brian and I do date night every week. We’re finally at a place that we regularly double date nearly every week…..but I told him a few days ago that we’re going to need to find an ADDITIONAL day of the week to just be the two of us.
Sure, we go to Target and Lowe’s alone for a spontaneous purchase, but that doesn’t leave much time to really talk and just “be”.
We LOVE reading books to each other and sharing God’s Word together. Our richest conversations are about the Word; and you know, it truly enriches our intimacy!
Speaking of….we’ve tried the KY before, but weren’t fans. But we’ll be trying other things! ;)
Great compilation of tips!!
Six months in to the year, and although we’re not dating EVERY week, I’m fairly certain we’ve dated more THIS year than many of the past several combined. And yes, reading together is such a great way to gain intimacy… we’re currently reading The Doctrines of Grace [aff] together, and it’s been a great conversation starter!
Great tips! We always know when the Kids Night Out is at the Y for our date nights. :)
I can’t wait until our youngest is old enough to leave at the KNO at the Y! :)
I love this post!!! :) Prioritizing marriage is something that I am extremely passionate about. I love that you realized that your marriage was facing some potential roadblocks and did everything you could to keep it strong despite those roadblocks!
http://www.apriorizedmarriage.com