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Some years ago we listened to a recording by a relationship expert who proposed something we found a little controversial: thank your spouse for doing the things they're supposed to do. Dawna was supposed to that Mark for taking out the garbage when that was a chore he's agreed to do? Mark was supposed to thank Dawna for doing the laundry when that was the chore she'd agreed to do every week? The answer was yes, for two reasons. First, whether it's an agreed upon household ta

At the end of our most recent State of Our Union meeting, Mark asked Dawna: "What's one thing I can do this week that would help you in your vocation?" Her answer: "Communicate. Communicate. Communicate." It had been a rough week. Mark was finishing the last week of his summer online course, and the grading was absorbing most of his time. He was also working with a church in Oregon, 2000 miles away, to organize his father's funeral mass. The problem was that as Mark's stress

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest... my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Most married couples know something about labor and burden. We know it from the outside, in the form of jobs, school schedules, medical appointments, and finances. We know it from the inside, in the ongoing work of staying close to another person across years and decades. The good news is that marriage itself is one of the primary ways God gives us that rest. Yo