The Latter-day Life

Recently I stumbled upon a great article from CNN entitled, “Married Couples, Don’t Forget to Date”. As a newly-wed Latter-day Saint, I’m taught this principle in the Church regularly. So to find an article about it, especially from CNN, was a bit surprising. I think this is an article every married couple should take five minutes to read together, and spend the rest of their lives practicing the idea of continuing to date each other.

Why should spouses continue to date?

“Finding time together is key to making a marriage work. That becomes especially important when couples become parents.”

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Church’s First Presidency once said that “love is spelled t-i-m-e.” Spending time together as a couple is a way to strengthen marriages. People change over the course of time. The whole point of marriage was explained from the beginning…

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” -Genesis 2:24 

One of the implications of the phrase “one flesh” in this verse is that of unity. Husband and wife should be completely unified. But this doesn’t just happen automatically. It takes time. Time to communicate. Time to be together. Time to grow together. Taking time to go out on dates regularly will help couples achieve unity in their marriages.

Every couple is unique. The couples interviewed in the article each had different ways of spending time together to build their marriage relationships. Here is a website with a list of extremely affordable ideas. Church leaders council married couples to set aside at least one night a week as a “date night.” The key is planning. If you don’t plan a date night in advance, odds are it isn’t going to happen, especially consistently. My wife and I are still trying to figure out things we enjoy doing together. Just last night we went on a spontaneous bike ride around the neighborhood. Tonight we are excited to go to a show on campus.

So why not give it a try? Find activities you enjoy doing together, and enjoy spending the time together.

“”Marriage is not a sprint,” says Jenny Triplett. “It’s a marathon.” She says that couples need to realize that they’ll be in their relationship for the long haul.”