Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work.  Ecclesiastes 4:9

Can you remember the last time you and your spouse worked on a project together?  A lot of times people think that because of our differences it can be really stressful sharing a project with our spouses.  However, it has the potential to bring you closer together if you share the process with one another.

I was once the director of an interpretive movement/sign art group at our church.  I loved this creative ministry and poured myself into it.  My oldest daughter was interested in it at that time and would soak up every move I showed her. I would blast the music and allow God to speak to my heart as I praised in my own way with sign language and different movements to the words of the songs.  One day I got down the gospel collection by Elvis Presley.  On that CD was How Great Thou Art.  I sat there feeling as if the presence of God was right there in my living room as the powerful voice of Elvis sang about how great our God truly is.  Then, my husband came inside and smiled as he heard Elvis, his all time favorite.  He began to watch the movements and showed an interest in what I was doing.  I intended on teaching this in class so our group could minister in song one Sunday morning.  There aren’t enough words in the human language to describe how it felt when my husband came alongside of me to learn the movements of this song.  I was so passionate about this group, and now he was a part of it.  My heart was completely touched, and as we worked on this song together, I felt closer to him.  We were sharing something that meant a lot to me.  When the Sunday morning came that we were to present this song, my husband was right there on stage with me, as was my oldest daughter and the rest of the group, doing every movement with ease as God was glorified.  We had a lot of people compliment us on how we presented this song and on the choice of song as well.  It felt wonderful working on this project together.

We have also just recently purchased an older RV.  We knew going into this that it was a “fixer-upper.”  We aren’t going to use it to travel the world.  We are simply going to use it to travel to plantations where we can camp overnight and go trail riding with our horses.  That was the main reason this RV was purchased.  A lot of horse people have the horse trailers with a small sleeping quarters, but it is too cramped and much too small for my claustrophobic self.  I knew that the only way I would be able to camp comfortably would be to have a RV with all of the comforts from home, including a larger bed and not feeling as if I was literally sleeping on a shelf in the horse trailer!  Being that this RV is an older model, it does require some work, but we are slowing chipping away at it.  My husband is discovering that when once he complained about it, he is now finding it a challenge and feels a sense of accomplishment when he narrows down a problem and is then able to fix it!  Success!  And we all cheer for him.  He has his little cheerleading squad over here with myself and our two daughters.  It hasn’t always been fun working on this RV together, though.  He’s gotten upset and has lost his cool a time or two with me sitting right there, but then when he walks away from it and goes back to it later, he’s able to find and fix the problem.  We’re getting this thing ready for our first trip together as this is perfect weather for trail riding!  The next item of business will be replacing the brake line, and then I’ll be inside pumping the brakes.  It may be only a small part of the process, but it is a project that we can work on together, and we will feel such a sense of accomplishment when we are enjoying our steaks on the grill sitting under the awning of our RV at the camp site with our horses right there with us.  It will all be worth it … and more!

Think of projects that you can work on with your spouse that can deepen the bond between you.  Even if it’s just working on a jig saw puzzle together, take the time.

Join us tomorrow for … Respecting Each Other’s Uniqueness.

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