The Key to a Good Marriage: Be like a middle-school girl chasing after an iPhone!

Andy Stanley at the national convention of leaders called Leadercast said,

"Bold Leadership is: 

a middle school girl in pursuit of an iPhone."

Middle school girls have:

    clarity-(they know what they're after)

    focus-(they zero in on their job to get what they want)

    stubbornness-(it's actually a virtue when you're right)

    resourcefulness (if mommy won't buy it, daddy will or grandma)

When I am sitting and writing on a Congratulations card for a wedding we're attending, I try to think, "What could I tell this couple to help them have a good marriage?"  

I almost always write something like, "Dig your heels in and throw your heart and guts and energies into making your relationship to your wife or husband the most important goal you have, only secondary to loving God." 

I don't think Beth and I are somehow special or gifted when it comes to marriage.  It's just that we have committed to:

clarity: we intentionally read, talk, and pray about our connection.

focus: we have made it our mantra that when mommy and daddy are connected, everything else in our family will work.

stubbornness: we try our hardest to "stick it" to stuff that will pull our time and energies away from our connection.

resourcefulness: we are always trying to read relationship books, listen to relationship podcasts, or trying to glean from people whose marriages we respect.

We're not perfect, we're just desperate.  Like a middle school girl desperate to get an iPhone, we're desperate to not let our marriage crumble, but instead to make it a divine life-giving relationship.