“But the Lord replied to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part [that which is to her advantage], which will not be taken away from her.”” (Emphasis mine)
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭41‬-‭42‬ ‭AMP‬‬

It is the start of a new year, the time for making resolutions and setting goals.

Hopefully your marriage is included in the evaluation. We must decide what is of most importance—listening to what is on God’s heart for us, like Mary did. She stopped everything and listened intently.

Tom and I have joined a marriage community group where we are going through Paul Tripp’s lessons on, What Did You Expect?. Although this book is out-of-print, Mr. Tripp has revised it with a more focused and updated title, Marriage. We highly recommend it!

Our CG leader asked us to share what our current need is and every couple shared a need to grow in the same area—communication.

It is interesting that communication was the top of the list for so many.

There can be as many reasons as there were couples in the room. But I believe it’s in large part the effect of smart phones on our listening skills. We scroll constantly from one post to the next, or one news feed to another.

It has been revealed through many studies that our attention spans are shrinking with the addition of screen use in our daily routines.

Maybe a modern day application to the Martha and Mary story would be that Mary chose to put her phone down in order to listen fully to Jesus, while Martha half-listened checking her friend’s IG feed.

Tom and I have talked about having a phone free day, but have never tried it. It seems impossible given it is our only means of being contacted by friends and family.

If we want to grow in our communication as husband and wife, it begins with listening well when our spouse is speaking. Based on the number of couples in our group struggling in this area, I imagine many of you can relate.

May we all pursue connection with each other through genuine communication from the heart. Our marriage depends on it, and it may be the one thing necessary for it to thrive.

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Welcome to our new followers. We don’t take your willingness to sign up for our emails lightly. We pray your marriage will grow and prosper this year as a result.

Please share what one area your marriage is in need of growth. Let’s encourage each other.

Blessings,

Tom and Debi ❤️❤️