My 4 year old, Tyrus, will have his first “back-to-school” experience tomorrow as he heads off to preschool. I like to think of the word preschool as the combination of preparation and school. It is where Tyrus will go to prepare for school. What do they teach at preschool? There is lots of play, art, music, stories, games, learning the alphabet and such, but more importantly it teaches the fundamentals for school. How to follow directions from a teacher. How to respect and learn alongside other students. How to behave in a learning environment.
My husband and I have been teaching a Pre-Marriage class at our church for the last 3 years now. We hope to offer the couples who come to the class the fundamentals for marriage. We try to do it in a way that doesn’t cause droopy eyelids during this early morning class by telling them our stories, what we discovered and learned over our 7 years of marriage. We teach alongside another couple who have been married 34 years and get to hear their stories as well. We are getting ready to kick off a new class later this month and each time it provides an opportunity for us to go back-to-the-basics on our own marriage.
This month, I am inviting you “Back to School” on your marriage. I’ll be introducing some of the topics and discussions we have in our Pre-Marriage class and sharing with you the stories we tell of our own marriage in these areas. I’ll also be recommending other resources that we use in the class that you can check out yourself if you are in need of a marriage refresher. There will even be some homework assignments if you are interested in digging deeper.
The curriculum we use is from FamilyLife called Preparing for Marriage: Discovering God’s Plan for a Lifetime of Love by David Boehi, Brent Nelson, Jeff Schulte and Llyod Shadrach. We used other curriculums in the past but found this offered the best blend of biblical truth and practical application. If you are considering marriage, engaged and planning to marry, venturing into a second marriage or newly married and still feeling unprepared, I would recommend you buy two of these study guides and work through it with your fiancé or spouse.
“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are full of rare and beautiful treasures.” – Proverbs 24:3-4
When a golfer’s game takes a turn for the worse, they will often go back and rebuild their swing. When a scientist fails at an experiment, they go back to the beginning to evaluate their assumptions. And, in our marriages, it is healthy and helpful to return to the fundamentals to gain further wisdom and understanding of ourselves, our spouses and our relationships.
Time to go back to school on your marriage!
And you just thought you were sending the kids back to school this week!!
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