God's Design for Marriage

Category Archives: Featured

“Tweeting” More Often in 2011

Do you twitter? Have you ever tweeted? Do you go through life trying to avoid being a twit? In 2011, we are going to give a little more attention to our tweeting. Over on the sidebar, below the featured post, you will find “Latest Tweets,” which will show our latest tweets. (Profound, huh?) Our plan is to use this for quick, (relatively) frequent encouragements and suggestions for marriage.

If Twitter is unknown to you, a helpful introduction video is posted below. Basically, it’s a way to communicate short (140 character-limit) messages. You can read the tweets here on the website, or you can download an app for your smartphone. (We use Hootsuite.) (So does John Piper.)

I (Doug) have mixed feelings about Twitter as used by many people. I won’t get into my concerns now, but on the “useful” side of things, I believe it can be effective for helping us stay focused on profitable things. In our case, tweeting will help Krista and me continue to think about our marriage throughout the day. And for you, reading our thoughts and updates can help you think about your own marriage regularly. If it accomplishes those things, it will be beneficial. If it doesn’t, we’ll hand Tweety over to the cat. Time will tell.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=player_embedded

How to Plan a Date: A Step-By-Step Guide

(NO WOMEN ALLOWED! Seriously, ladies, this is intended to be a guide for your husbands. Please don’t spoil their efforts. Let them surprise you!)

Think of this as Date-Planning 101.

It has come to my attention that many husbands are unsure (read clueless) about how to plan a date. Well, I’m here to help. (Ladies, if your husband doesn’t already read this blog, encourage him to start now.) This week, I will walk through the process s-l-o-w-l-y, a little bit at a time, day-by-day, so that you can keep up. If you follow each step, you will be soon ready to bless your wife with a great evening of romance. Ready? Let’s get started.

Step One: Pick a date for your date. This may seem like a no-brainer. But research (i.e. wives I hear from) indicates that husbands routinely wait until the last minute to plan a date. Which is not planning. So, go ahead, right now, pop open your iCal and select a date for your date. I recommend that you look for something about a week away. (Hint: Don’t pick a night when there is already something else scheduled.)

Don’t tell your wife what you will be doing, just ask her to set aside the evening beginning at, say, 6 p.m. Tell her that you will take care of everything. Her job is just to prepare herself mentally and emotionally for a delightful evening together with you.

Oh, and, presentation is everything. Don’t tell her like this: “Hey! I just read that blog you told me to read. He said I should take you on a date. So, don’t do anything else next Friday, ‘cuz that’s when he said we should do our date thing. Okay?” Tell her by leaving a note for her to discover, maybe taped onto the bathroom mirror or on her car dashboard, some place that she can’t miss. And word it in a way that expresses romance, creates anticipation, and communicates your love for her.

That’s Step One. Come back tomorrow for Step Two.