Are you walking in Front, Behind, or Side-by-Side?

My husband, Gordon, and I participated in my very first speaking engagement during this past Valentine’s Day season. We cooked one of our favorite meals together over zoom, along with a few other couples, as the rest of the congregation watched. As some were eating, Gordon shared how we met, I shared my personal testimony, and some things about my upcoming book “Marriage Glue”. The theme for the event was Amos 3:3, “How can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”

There’s a walking trail behind my house, and I can see people walking when I open my bedroom drapes in the morning. On one particular morning, about six months ago, I noticed this couple walking on the trail. They were noticeable because they weren’t really walking together. The woman was walking very fast in front of her husband. The husband seemed to be trying to keep up behind his very determined wife.

The next time I noticed this couple on the walking path, about a week later, the husband was now leading, and the wife seemed to be uninterested in trying to keep up. Another week or two went by and I happened to notice something about the couple. There was no longer a couple walking, it was just the husband walking by himself. I thought about the wife, like maybe she wasn’t feeling well, or perhaps it was too cold.

The fact about this couple that I want to highlight, is that I have never seen the wife again with her husband, walking along the path. Now, for a countless number of days, I only see the husband happily walking alone along the path. I now see this man every time I first look out my window. And I always think of that scripture in Amos.

I think about how being “agreed” in this text has a lot to do with being “one”. It’s rather difficult to be one if:

1. You and your spouse have a hard time communicating with each other. It’s hard to walk in agreement when your communication skills as a couple aren’t that great. I don’t think that couples need to agree about every single event that goes on within their marriage, but you can’t even come close if those items aren’t being discussed. Or if you’re not having regular, open talk with each other. Communication is so important. I talk about this in my book, as being one of the top needs of wives. And really, communication is needed for the marriage to survive.

Think About It: How are you and your spouse’s communication skills? If you had to rate them, what would they be on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being “Terrible” and 5 being
”Terrific”) ?

Lean In: How can you reflect on the above hinderance, and try to make a positive change in your marriage? Well, I think that the first step is to pray! I heard a preacher say just recently that we must commit everything that we are trying to do, every project, to the Lord in prayer, and I believe that it’s a good first step! If you need a little more “oneness” in your marriage, please sign-up for more information about my upcoming book, and I’ll send you the “oneness” prayer that I am currently writing. The prayer is based on the word of God and will come with instructions!

Stay tuned this week for more hinderances to oneness that I write about in my book!