Here are 7 helpful pre-marital resources provided by my audience on Twitter.
I haven’t officiated a wedding in over a decade—no, scratch that, maybe more. But I’ve just committed to performing one.
Look out, newlyweds!
So, needless to say, I found myself needing some updated pre-marital counseling resources. I took to Twitter hoping to gather insight and found some of the responses rather… comical!
Some of the suggestions included:
- Make them listen to one another eat a bowl of cereal…if they can do it, they’ll be fine.
- Please talk about thermostat temps. Our premarital counseling completely skipped this crucial issue!
- Have couples try assembling a piece of IKEA furniture together.
- Make them watch each other load a dishwasher.
- Have couples define when they consider a tube of toothpaste to be empty.
- Find out if one of the pair is a “snooze button” person.
- Send the couple canoeing.
- Have them butcher chickens together.
- Make the couple take a road trip together with a cellphone-jammer in the car.
- Have them figure out which way the toilet paper goes on the reel.
Silly though they may be, I think these responses actually provide us with some important insight. When couples are preparing for marriage, it’s easy to assume that only the big stuff really matters. It’s a given that a couple’s faith convictions, big picture life goals, and expectations for raising a family should line up but other factors are often seen as non-essential.
I think we can all agree that how a person assembles furniture or loads a dishwasher is hardly ‘essential’ to a good marriage. But what we see here is that the little stuff—seemingly insignificant lifestyle choices and daily decisions—are also important to the foundation of a healthy partnership.
That’s …