Why You Need to Get Away
Do you remember your honeymoon? Maybe it involved a beach or maybe the mountains. You might have had some great food or seen some new things. Most importantly, you probably spent a lot of alone time with your spouse. It was great, wasn’t it?
Our society doesn’t quite understand the need for “honeymoons” after marriage begins. We become so swept up in our jobs, social lives, and even finishing that TV episode we’re watching that we don’t spend a lot of quality time with our spouse. Once we have kids, it becomes even worse.
Personally, I live in a city, and it feels pretty busy all the time. My husband and I are constantly rushing to the next place, working long hours, and making weekend plans with friends. We don’t even have kids yet, but it still feels like we don’t have time for anything else.
When we signed up for FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember marriage getaway, carving out an entire weekend to focus on our marriage seemed like a lot of time to give up. But I promise you, it was one of the best choices we ever made. Spending an entire weekend learning how to communicate, grow in oneness, and love one another better was like hitting a reset to our busy lives.
Pressing pause on our social plans and leaving our work at home refreshed us and reminded us what is most important. At the end of the day, none of your busyness is as important as your spouse.
There are a few reasons why I think it’s important to get away.
1. It allows time to reflect.
Getting away allows you to pause and reflect on your marriage in the last several months or years. If you can take focused time to sit with your spouse and talk about how far you’ve come, or where you want to go in the future, it will allow you to walk away with a better marriage than before. It will also help you grow in appreciation of your spouse.
2. It makes your marriage stronger.
Whether you are going to a marriage conference or just sitting on the beach for a few days, learning from and listening to your spouse will help you serve him or her better.
Take some time and ask your spouse how you can treat them better. If you have kids, ask your spouse how you can help at home more. If you feel you are in a dry spot in your marriage, find out how you can romance them more. At the end of the trip, I hope you go home with some actionable things that you can do to bless your spouse.
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3. You can have fun together.
I hope your spouse is more than your lover. I hope your spouse is your friend, too. One of my favorite parts of getting away from my busy life with my husband is having the chance to simply laugh and enjoy one another.
Your spouse is meant to be your life partner, not just your co-parent or your roommate. I hope you can take time to have fun when you’re with them.
4. It helps you dream for the future.
Spouses who dream together and plan together are able to walk into whatever the future holds—both its joys and heartbreaks—together. There might be goals you want to accomplish in the next season of your marriage. There might be big life changes, like a move or the decision to have kids, that need to be discussed. Taking time to pray and dream together is the best place to start these discussions.
Strong marriages don’t just happen. They are built and worked on over time. Spouses who dream, laugh, seek, and reflect together have a strong foundation for the future. You might do all of these things at night while the kids are in bed, or during weekly date nights, but I challenge you to take one whole weekend or even a week to simply focus on and listen to your spouse.
Carving out that time will be well worth it and it will make your marriage stronger. If you’re looking for a place to start, the Weekend to Remember conference is the perfect place.
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