Some weeks my husband and I would rarely get the chance to sit and even discuss each other's day as it would be interrupted by a certain small person's great and pressing needs or something would be on the calendar to attend (if it even made it to the calendar). Many things can easily creep in front of a married couples crucial times of communication. Nothing can replace the time a husband and wife spend together offloading, building up, encouraging, discussing, planning, praying and dreaming…and sometimes whinging!!! We may be together in church or at friends places, while at the shops and every night in bed, but nothing replaces time where a couple have time alone (and one is not snoring) and can meet each other where they are at, no strings attached.
Some people may have had the wonderful opportunity to do this very regularly, even with multiple children, but for my husband and I over the last five years it has been quite rare, especially after we brought our first noisy addition into the world. Babysitters are costly in an already tight budget, our schedules have been overcrowded and it is something we simply did not make time for. But things can always change.
Over the past 5 weeks, due to living with my sister and brother in law, we have had the amazing opportunity to have a date night every week. We have done a variety of things together, but all the evenings have revolved around simply being together, alone and communicating about anything and everything. We have a lot of changes coming up in our lives and we have just gained so much from discussing our hopes, our hurts and things that have been on our hearts. We have seen more than ever before, the importance of a date night and to simply value and cling strongly to our marriage in this world where all the odds are stacking up against couples staying together for life.
Its not always going to be this easy to drop everything, leave the kids and head out (so thankful to our family who have made this possible), but I believe from this point on we will make every attempt to have regular nights where we date and make time for one another, with the sole desire to communicate and to love generously.
A date night and time together is all about love in action. Loving your spouse for who they are and valuing their thoughts and feelings. Date your spouse like never before. Love on them like never before. Even if you don't have children, set that time aside for one another. "Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not promote itself, is not puffed up, does not behave badly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails" 1Corinthians 13:4-8.
Laura Veloso is wife to John and the mother of 3 young boys. She is trained in child welfare and primary school teaching and has experience in overseas missions and youth leadership.
Laura Veloso's archive of articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/laura-veloso.html