That’s the way they looked. Bored silly! I saw a couple similar to the picture above just the other day. They were in another city though you could have easily witnessed a similar scene in Waco. They were walking down the sidewalk. Maybe they were in their thirties. He was charging on ahead and she was trying to keep up with him. He never looked back at her. He never spoke to her. He seemed to be in another world. He seemed preoccupied with wherever he was going. You’ve seen couples like this. Maybe you’ve been like this.
Sometimes, a marriage seems to loose something. You both just seem to exist. You go out to eat and you don’t talk with each another. In fact, you may never even look at one another. When marriages reach this level of boredom, there are some who get involved with a person–not his/her spouse. A recent article in Newsweek addressed this.
Does this mean that the marriage is terminal? No…not yet. But it may very well be on life support. Some people have lived like this so long that they have lost all hope. They exist (not live) in an effort to endure this misery.
I suppose that some of these marriages will end. Yet, I wonder what would happen if we began to see one another as a community of believers who exist to support and encourage us in our desire to become Christ-like. What would happen if we both (husband and wife) put new energy into our marriages before they finally end?
What if:
*We (husband and wife) call upon brothers and sisters to pray fervently for our marriage.
*We invite the elders into our home to pray for our families.
*We seek early on, God-centered counseling, where husband and wife together work on their marriage.
*We ask an older couple whose marriage is worthy of imitation to meet with us periodically to talk with us about our marriage.
Feelings of boredom at times are probably normal. But–it is very important that these feelings are not just ignored. As husbands and wives who serve one another, it is important that be attentive to one another.