Tag Archives: love

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3 Key Ingredients For Creating A Remarkable Relationship

Always include these three things if you want a love that lasts

Have you ever found a recipe that you were just dying to try only to find out after you had made it that it just didn’t live up to your expectations? They look great. They smell great. We get excited to try them and then…not so much.

3KeyIngredientsForRelationshipsArticle

One of my most vivid memories of this happened to my mom. I grew up in a house where all the books we owned were cookbooks. So, my mom tried many recipes out on us at the dinner table. But none were as famous (or infamous) as the Tofu Cheesecake. That’s right, tofu cheesecake.

My mom had spent all day cooking for a dinner party at our house that evening and had made what appeared to be a delectable cheesecake for dessert. We (my dad, my brother, and myself) were all excited to devour it and dove right into it after we had our meal. I don’t know if I’ll ever forget the look on my dad’s face when he took the first big bite. It was screaming, “Warning, warning! Do not let this pass your own lips!” It was a dinner party disaster. Luckily, my mom had a back up plan to save the night because it was that nasty.

Sometimes we think we have everything we need to make something delicious because we’re following the recipe we’ve been given, but then it turns out to not be so great and we don’t know why. We end up asking ourselves, “Did I make it right? Maybe I left something out? It looked so good, what went wrong?”

This happens everyday in relationships as well. We follow the recipe we’ve been given and we input the ingredients we think are going to make a great relationship and then one day we realize that this isn’t quite turning out the way we thought it would.

Maybe it’s time to take a second look at our recipe for love and see if we’re missing some key ingredients for creating a remarkable relationship. 

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5 Ways To Rekindle The Romance In Your Relationship

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, the word romance is in the air! But do we really know what true romance is anymore? Or have we given ourselves a definition that limits romance to exaggerated and expensive gifts and trips that leads to hot and passionate sexual intimacy? Don’t get me wrong, I love to whisk my wife away on private jets to remote islands, give her obnoxiously large diamonds, and make love to her on the beach for hours and hours (heavy sarcasm intended). But with the images and expectations of our media-driven culture this is what it feels as though is expected for an everyday couple.

Rekindle Romance

Is true romance only meant for those who can afford it? Or is it something simpler that, when applied regularly, can result in a reignited passion between you and your partner? Let’s check the definition of this loaded word and see if we can learn anything from the source.

Romance (def.) – a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life

At its core, romance is using our imaginations to give our partners an experience that breaks up the monotony of our everyday lives and provides some variety that is focused on showing them how much we love and care for them. So, with this definition as our guide it’s much easier to see how we can spice up our relationships in simple and meaningful ways.

So, here are 5 ways to rekindle the romance in your relationship every single day (not just on Valentine’s Day). 

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Why Most Relationships Never Last (and How To Ensure Yours Does)

How to make your relationship last in a world where they seem to be so expendable

Since the dawn of time mankind has never been satisfied with just being a “me,” he’s always wanted to be part of a “we.” That’s the power of relationships in our lives. They give us the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than just ourselves.

Couple On The Beach

You’d think with all the human advancements in psychology over the past 200 years we’d all be having great relationships by now and enjoying our spouses and significant others at high levels every single day. But that’s not the case, is it? In fact, the divorce rate suggests that relationships are becoming more and more disposable in our world, not less. Why do you think this is?

I think these statistics are telling us something that we can no longer refuse to ignore. Because it’s so easy to leave a marriage with our relaxed legal standards, the bar has been raised on relationships and people are no longer willing to settle for less when we know there must be more.

So how do we make our relationships last in a world where they seem to be so expendable? By going straight to the heart of why most relationships never last – love. 

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Show Me Love

Every February 14th we celebrate love, in all its various forms. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be the time we honor and cherish loved ones with anything from a phone call to a card to a cliché box of chocolates and a dozen roses. Our children take valentine’s cards to school to give to their classmates and teachers and we pull our hair out trying to make sure we bring the right amount of individually wrapped sweet somethings to their school parties. But in the midst of all this do any of us bother to ask what love is? Probably not. And the major problem with that is we don’t seem to know much at all about this celebrated term.

Show Me Love

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What I Learned From Pam

A couple days ago, I went to a friend’s funeral visitation. She was a special lady that I met over 11 years ago where we attended the same local church. Always kind, with a loving embrace and smiling eyes, Pam never let you leave her presence feeling unwanted. She was an enthusiastic supporter of mine way before I deserved the confidence she placed in me as a leader and unfailingly offered her time and talent to support the student ministry that I was tasked with directing.

What I Learned From Pam

I remember how much she cared for all of the young adults in our group and how much they loved her. There were so many nights when she and her husband hosted us at their house and shared their lives with us in such an authentic and caring way. You see, she was a rare person who understood the value of always being true to who she was even though we were steeped in an environment that rewarded posers.