marriaGe & Family liFe
The Valley Catholic
Marriage Minute
Communicating is Key
By Richard & Theresa Rieve
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
Richard and I (Theresa) each bring different abilities and
talents to our relationship, and that’s probably what attracted
us to each other. After we were married, we each applied our talents in different
areas. For example, I became the family accountant—but because it was “my
area” of expertise and I just handled everything, after a while he didn’t know
the shape of the family’s finances. Likewise, he had areas of responsibility that
he did not share with me. These became areas of friction.
We both tend to avoid conflict at any cost, and so we’d put these things aside.
I thought there’d somehow be a “someday” when we’d talk about them. Richard
ended up spending most evenings zoned out in front of the television while I
cooked dinner and took care of the kids.
I thought if he pitched in and helped there would be more time to spend together, while he thought that if he helped, I’d just find more stuff to do. To be fair,
it wasn’t until we went on a Marriage Encounter Weekend that I heard that sometimes kids need to be told to wait because Mom and Dad need some adult time.
I sometimes would bring up a difficult subject, but I’d see his defenses come
up and I’d change the subject. We talked about non-controversial stuff, so we
thought we were communicating. We had a good marriage, one we were both
committed to, that we knew would last forever. What we didn’t know was that
we could have a GREAT marriage.
All of those things that we were going to talk about “someday” just stuck
around, and “someday” never came—until we went on our Weekend. We like to
say that the Weekend didn’t change anything, and at the same time, it changed
everything! It put us on the same wavelength. It took a Worldwide Marriage
Encounter Weekend to teach us how to really communicate with one another,
and that has made all the difference.
Visit www.sanjosewwme.org for more information on creating a joy-filled marriage.
WEDDING GUIDE
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
a weekend of discovery
for married couples
May 13, 2014
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Pope says jealousy is devil’s work;
holy Spirit brings չ