Choose a Spiritual Line of Defense
The movie "War Room" introduces an important reality: There are vast, negative, spiritual forces seeking to divide you!
One of the largest commitments you can ever make is toward whatever disciplines turn up the light bright enough to mitigate these forces.
Here are some common options:
Couple prayer
Couple meditation
Couple mantras (listening and or repeating them together)
Reading scriptures together
All of the above
If you're inclined toward prayer (which I personally believe to be the most effective), consider the following:
Thomas Monson once gave a newly married couple a piece of life time advice (as relayed by Kevin Pearson):
"Do you want to love each other forever?" he asked the couple. "Yes, of course" came the eager response. "Then each night, on your knees, …pull your sweetheart close to you, and pray together... If you're not feeling like praying... then you're going to want to stay up all night if you need to, until you can pray together."
Not feeling like praying together is a helpful indication that you've gone off the Couples GPS path and a good opportunity for honest self assessment. Perhaps you could try apologizing first, or maybe watch an inspirational video together, then pray.
What I also love about ending the day with couple prayer (and ideally starting it too) is that if you miss every other opportunity throughout the day to let your spouse know how much you appreciate him or her, you have this moment of what Dr. John Lund calls positive/spiritual vulnerability.
Turn on the floodlights Think of it like this: You're going to hit some bumps in the road. The question isn’t as much “what’s going on in our relationship”, as much as it is, "who have I inadvertently invited into our marriage?" It's critical to acknowledge the dark catalyst of unconsciousness and division. He has a name: Satan.
He and his people (all unseen) are like sharks, waiting for anything to be dropped into the water of your relationship. When you drop a little bit of unconsciousness or controlment, blame or reactivity in the water, it’s a feeding frenzy for these little dark sharks. You don’t want that.
So it’s not just your own insanity you’re dealing with- it’s his (Satan’s) the most insane person in the history of this universe. Humble, diligent, sincere couple prayer (or meditation, mantras, positive energy etc.) is like setting up flood lights that can dispel any darkness you may have inadvertently collected.
🧘♂️If Meditation. If you choose to mediate together (instead, or in addition to prayer), make it cozy. Sit close on the couch. Hold hands, or walk and hold hands. Chose whatever meditation you feel best about. We suggest headspace.
Until you can totally get in the habit of couple prayer, consider listing it in your Habit Tracker.
Let's talk about all of this at a meeting and/or talk about this with each other. See what you each feel. Kick it off tonight!
Make it a habit! I promise you that if you’ll get into the habit of praying (and/or meditating) together, every day, you will grow together, serve together, and love together at a whole new level.
Until you can totally get in the habit of couple prayer &/or meditation, consider listing it in your Habit Tracker. Let's talk about all this at a meeting and/or talk about it with each other. See what you each feel. Kick it off tonight!
Frosting on the cake
One last thing- Consider a kiss following couple prayer. There's something about a kiss following a prayer that will leave each of you feeling supported, open, hopeful and ready for anything. (We'll talk more about this in "Rituals.")
P.S. The kiss above made me feel like I'd been transported to Australia. Actually, now that I think of it, we were in Australia.