Enter With Your Eyes Open!: Courtship, Marriage & Covenant

An excerpt from "Reversing the Marriage Implosion: The Covenant" by Dr. Robert Reccord, http://www.believe.com/articles/Relationships/Reversing-the-Marriage-Implosion-The-Covenant/

Enter With Your Eyes Open!

As marriages hurtle into the future before them, we must remind every couple to keep their eyes open for the needs and fears of the other. A wise, seasoned counselor told me years ago that the greatest need of women is security, and her greatest fear is insecurity. Conversely,the greatest need of a man is adequacy, and his greatest fear, inadequacy. If only my wife and I had been told this before we got married, not years later!

Within every wife, there is a little girl craving to hear that she is pretty, valued, treasured and loved. She can handle multiple moves, shaky finances, job difficulties and worse as long as she is relationally secure with her man. Every husband longs to hear, “I’m proud of you because…” He yearns to know he is adequate in his leadership. In conference after conference, women sit stunned when my wife asks men to lower their head and raise their hand on what they would prefer to hear from their wife: “I love you,” or “I’m proud of you.” “I’m proud of you” wins hands down (or up in this case). Even the makers of Viagra and Calais understand a man’s passionate desire to be adequate!

So, what implosions might be avoided if every couple walking toward the altar were clearly guided on the foundational need/fear of their potential mate? It would so clearly show how our IEDs (improvised explosive devices) of words and actions within marriage can rupture the infrastructure of our relationships and bring our homes crashing in around us.

Maybe right now is a good time for you to assess yourself and the needs of the loved one in your life. What do you see that you might not have seen before? What are you going to do about it?

http://www.believe.com/articles/Relationships/Reversing-the-Marriage-Implosion-The-Covenant/

Abba is good. Heh, heh, saw my eyes perk up a bit while reading this. Be blessed.

Whitney