Empty Nesters
In the Image of God
Created Male & Female Our masculinity and femininity are completely integrated with our personhood. They are stamped into our spirituality, hard-wired into our brains, ingrained in our personality and manifested in and through every part of our bodies. “So God created humankind in his image” Gen 1:27 To be human, is to be sexual. Our physiological…
Read MoreOn a Mission to Love
Every couple wants to avoid divorce and get along without too many fights. A successful marriage however, is much more than just this; it is a life-long union in which both spouses flourish as individuals and enjoy a deep and passionate intimacy. Thinking only in terms of ‘avoiding divorce’ is very limited. It’s rather like…
Read MoreGrowing in Love
The popularity of St Valentine’s Day grew out of the joy of celebrating romantic married love. The celebration also encourages us to renew and develop that love. God is love and this year we focus on one particular aspect of deepening the love of a couple, whether they are engaged or married – that is,…
Read MoreNYE Resolutions
The most vital and satisfying marriages are intentional. This NYE, make a resolution for your marriage.
Read MoreTake Five: Improve your Marriage
Do you feel trapped in a dissatisfying or troubled marriage? Do you feel powerless to ‘fix’ it because your spouse refuses to join you in counselling or a marriage enrichment course? Take heart! There are lots of things a husband or wife can do on their own that can have a dramatic impact. Here…
Read MoreMid-Life Madness and other Stressors
As mid-lifers in the midst of working through some of our ‘issues’, we are acutely aware of how easy it would be to let our individual stuff derail our marriage. It’s normal for a person in midlife to be irritable and volatile. Some react with depressive symptoms, others get angry and aggressive, others withdraw or…
Read MoreThe Language of Love
A sacrament makes visible in a human way something that is invisible or spiritual. In other words, a sacrament images and reveals the mystery of God. Every sacrament has two key aspects which make the sacrament visible: words and gesture. In marriage, the sacramental words are the wedding vows, in effect “I freely give myself…
Read MoreReconciliation
Love means more than saying “I’m sorry”. There’s a difference between the ‘I’ centred statement “I’m sorry”, and the other centred statement, “Will you please forgive me?” The ‘I’ centred statement simply acknowledges a fact. A person might recognise that they behaved poorly, inconsiderately, insensitively, thoughtlessly or carelessly. They might also just want to move…
Read MoreNew Product: Sexuality as Gift
In a world where sexuality is crassly exploited it can be difficult to connect with its giftedness. Yet gift it is: given by God to each man or woman to draw him or her into love. To be human is to be sexual. Sexuality is fundamental to being human – after all, every single cell…
Read MoreGender Bias in Intimacy
While almost everyone acknowledges that men and women are different, managing these differences is not so easy, especially in the area of intimacy. A woman’s preferred way of achieving intimacy is deep personal conversation, talking and sharing feelings, that is, verbal language. A man’s preferred way of achieving intimacy is physical bonding, touch and love…
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