Yesterday’s post was titled “5 ways to change the environment in your marriage/family” and it triggered several comments, emails, and a larger-than-normal response. As I noted in my year 1 blogging review, my largest post of 2011 was titled, “10 Actions kids can learn from their parent’s marriage“. The big hits, retweets, “likes” and comments typically come from these types of posts.

My deduction: marriage/family is a huge need and opportunity for ministry…or, as my friend Adam McLane says, “there is a big void for non-weird parenting help.” I’m not suggesting that my thoughts are non-weird, I’m just thinking about the need/opportunity.

I realize that for those of us who work with teenagers and families, the idea of helping families isn’t foreign. We get it! We understand the importance. But, what about helping marriages too?

There’s a lot of talk about “parents/family” (general), but not as much talk about helping marriages (specific). Is that because we don’t know how to help or because we assume that if we help with parenting that “marriage is covered” in our attempts?

Here’s one reader’s response to my post “10 Actions kids can learn from their parent’s marriage” that makes me think a lot more specifically about helping marriages.

I don’t think it’s an either/or… I think it’s a both/and. But, it’s a comment like this that make me want to continue to move from “focusing on the family” to ALSO “focusing on marriages” too. What about you?

Question: Let’s play “Would You Rather?” Would you rather direct your energy toward helping marriages or helping families? I’m curious of your response.

 

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