Date Night

My husband, Randy, and I try to be very intentional about frequent date nights. Sometimes it might be dinner out, other times a day trip or some spur of the moment adventure. Our date nights are sometimes on a “shoe-string” budget. One of our most memorable dates was a “shoe-string” budget date, three years ago on our anniversary. We picked up food from the Giant Café in Carlisle and picnicked at King’s Gap. We sat overlooking the valley for hours and talked about our life, our family, our marriage, our disappointments, and our dreams.

Intimate conversations are one of the things that great marriages are made of. Several years ago, Randy and I created a list of questions to ask each other on date nights. Questions like, “What is one thing that I do that drives you crazy?” and “What words would you like to hear me say more often?” help us to more effectively meet the needs of the other. We grow together spiritually when we ask each other questions like, “What is one thing God is doing in your life right now?” and “What has been your greatest spiritual struggle over the last year?” We engage in communication about our future and our dreams with conversation starters like, “What are three things that you want to do before you die?” and “What would your dream job be if you could do anything and get paid for it?”

Tonight, we might take our list along or maybe we’ll come up with some new questions. We have a goal to add 50 questions to our list this year. Regardless of if we take our current list or work towards our new questions goal, we will be intentional about making time for intimate conversation.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 19 that marriage takes a certain aptitude (readiness in learning, talent). Take time this weekend, to develop the talent of communication with your spouse! Maybe ask each other some of the questions I mentioned here. You’ll never regret the time and energy you put into develop a deeper intimacy with your spouse!