When my husband Jeremiah and I were dating and just on the verge of engagement, I noticed a difference in the time we spent together as we grew more serious in our relationship.

I started to see that how I spent my time and energy would be much different as a married woman. My priorities would change from a schedule revolving pretty much around me to now considering my husband and what worked best for the both of us.

Those last few months before our wedding day, we went through an extremely helpful pre-marital book that a mentor had given us called Preparing for Marriage. After reading a chapter that dealt with expectations, we agreed that one of our expectations in marriage would be to go to bed together every night as much as we could help it.

One particular night in our first year of our marriage, Jeremiah got a phone call from his mom late in the evening. I didn’t mind it at first, but the conversation lingered. He was out on the couch and I was in bed waiting for him to join me. I grew frustrated because it was getting late. A half hour went by and I was even more upset especially after I went in to remind him I was waiting. Besides, I couldn’t fall asleep without him!

Time reserved just for us

When he got off the phone, I drilled him needless to say. I felt like he wasn’t considering me. Plus we both had work in the morning. I remember him telling me he needed to be there for his mom. And I was all about that, but not that late at night!

We talked about the circumstance more after work the next day. Jeremiah saw where he wasn’t being considerate of our time. I confessed that I was wrong for blowing up and that I remembered times when I didn’t think of him in my phone conversations during other times of the day. We came to an understanding that longer phone calls should be made/answered earlier unless it’s something urgent.

We knew that the late evening needed to be reserved for just us. It would be our sacred space for connecting, resolving any conflict, praying, communicating, and being intimate. Since we both worked during the day and didn’t see each other, we knew that the best time to deeply connect was before bed—after working out, dinner, dishes, work preparations, and more.

Now, five years later, scheduling that time together in the evening as newlyweds really set a solid foundation for us today. It has saved us from a lot of conflict and has helped us grow in our intimacy. We cherish the time all the more now that we have a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. And believe it or not, Jeremiah is often the first one to turn off our iPhones so there are no distractions when we connect.

Routines create strong marriages

I’ve heard it said once that,

routines create strong and healthy marriages.”

A routine is something that’s expected. You just do it without thinking. A routine is really what takes precedence and what we choose to fill our time with. And if something else attempts to trump that time, you stick to the routine anyway.

If you’re asked to go out with your friends on the evening you have a date night planned with your spouse, you say no to your friends and reschedule. If you’ve been away from your spouse several nights in a row and you’re pressured to commit to another night away, you choose to spend time with your spouse because they are more important.

Routines in marriage act as a boundary as well. Some couples get married and continue the same hustle and bustle lifestyle of going out like they did being single. This isn’t altogether wrong, but if the husband or wife is never around and always out with friends, then the relationship is being neglected rather than cultivated. Temptations for adultery or emotional affairs can creep in unexpectedly. I’ve seen it destroy marriages.

The danger with any routine is doing it simply because you have to, so it’s important to remember why you’re doing it and to keep the heart and joy in it all. It’s not about being legalistic or old-fashioned, but giving your spouse the time he or she deserves in order to protect your marriage from anything that could tear it down.

Deciding what will be routine

In looking over the past years, these routines have helped build oneness into our marriage:

• Eat at least one meal a day together. For us, it’s usually breakfast. We strive to have a family meal each night, but my husband’s work schedule doesn’t always allow for him to be home when the kids are clawing at my feet to eat. There’s just something about eating together that bonds you.
• Attend church every Sunday. Worshipping the Lord together and being encouraged by the body of Christ has strengthened our relationship leaps and bounds. At church, we’re honest about our struggles and we know people will be praying for us. Also, discussing our pastor’s sermon on the way home has helped us grow closer spiritually.
• Schedule a date night every other week. We fail at this at times especially when it comes to hiring a sitter, forgetting to plan, finances, etc. but we strive for it and never regret when we get to go out and enjoy each other like we did when we were dating. It also shows our 3-year-old that our marriage is most important.
• Plan for upcoming events. We usually plan trips, birthday parties, outings, any family coming into town, girls/guys night outs, etc. on a weeknight so we know what’s coming up on the calendar and aren’t caught off guard. It helps us stay on the same page with regular communication.
• Create fun holiday traditions. Every year, we look at lights and get Starbucks one evening a few days before Christmas. We have a nice Christmas Eve dinner, open one gift, and read The Night Before Christmas to our kids. Every year, we look forward to revisiting those traditions together.

Obviously with routines, there’s room to flex and allow for spontaneity. Life just happens and some evenings we don’t have time to connect the way we’d like. But our goal is to strive for it.

The point of focusing on routines is to help protect the time you and your spouse have together. Routines help you say “no” so you can better keep your priorities in line. Open communication stems from spending quality time together and trust is built when you protect your marriage in such a way.

 

*This article was originally written/published by the author under the title “Learning to Say “No”: How Routines Help Protect Your Marriage.”