Classy Marriage Class Blog

More often than I'd like to admit, I find myself attempting to justify a "borderline sin," by attempting to find loopholes for things. These loopholes could be things not specifically mentioned in any spiritual text or church class I've attended, or they could be because I decide that I am doing a bad thigh for a good reason (spoiler alert - if you decide this on your own, odds are you're wrong). I've gotten better at resisting these, but am not perfect at it. These loopholes could be found for simple things, such as tithing or the Word of Wisdom, or they could be for worse sins. On my mission, good missionaries who had a few issues with the mission rules would often discuss how they aren't breaking "the spirit of the law." Sure, it's easy to use the spirit of the law to justify smaller grievances, but I think the spirit of the law works the other way. When we follow the spirit of the law, we have studied the scriptures and other gospel su...

In Dr. Gottman's book  The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work , the afterword has this small, but profound statement: "Remember, working briefly on your marriage every day will do more for your health and longevity than working out at a health club." There will be things to work on with regards to your marriage no matter how perfect you are. Many of these things, once worked on, will also require periodic maintenance, which reminds me of owning a home. A house is often considered your most important investment. Unlike many other things, you can buy a home and work on it to increase its value over time. Some of these things, such as mowing the lawn, clearing the driveway of snow and vacuuming the carpet will happen frequently. Other things, such as constructing a shed, adding a new portion to your home or buying adjacent property. After you finish one major project, you will continue to move onto the next until you have the home of your dreams. Of course, the lar...

During the American Revolutionary War, one of the United Kingdom's tactics was to attempt to take control of New York and New Jersey. The idea was that if the King's forces could divide the thirteen colonies geographically, they would be able to concur the two sections easier than they could concur the whole if they were together. Satan is also familiar with this method and employs it within our families today. We can think of the status of families in two ways, I'll mention both briefly. The first is of a unit of government. Using my family as an example, we can say that individuals of my family are subject to the laws and rules of the United States of America, down through state and municipal governments eventually ending at my family. Each of those listed previous are both independent entities but are dependant on each other for their existence to varying extents. The second is of a church unit. Again using my family as an example, we can say that my family falls with...

We talk about pride a lot in the Church, but I feel like we don't define it very well very often. When we speak of pride, we're not talking about being proud of your kid when they perform well at a soccer match, nor are we talking about individuals being proud of themselves for completing a hard task. When I Googled the definition of pride, several options were offered. I think the one that best fits for how we speak of pride in the church is "the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance." We exhibit pride when we knowingly break God's commandments. In effect, we are saying that we know what will make us happy than the Creator. This, of course, is wrong and should be corrected. In the lesson, we learned about "pride games" that partners play with each other. Pride games are simply mind games individuals play to try to assert undue superiority and are detrimental to the quality of that relationship. Often in re...

In this lesson, I read a story by Martha Arnell (don't ask me who she is, I have no idea) talking about her relationship with her husband. She wrote that she tries to be a cheerleader for her husband when he goes hunting and fishing. This made me think about my situation with my wife. My wife and I have  way  different hobbies. She is into photography (she does it professionally) and over planning everything. I'm into amateur radio, meteorology, and other type natural sciences. She likes things that make her feel. I like things that make me think. She wants to be a home body. I want to get out and explore. So how do we make it work? We try. I have taken to second shooting for my wife. I'm not that great at it, but with Photoshop she makes due. I've come to enjoy it, though I mostly get distracted with the landscape and such. She has taken to taking pictures of mountains (I'm more of a nature explorer). To this day, the only picture of a mountain she has liked w...

I grew up with a love of maps. In Walmart, I would frequently ask my mom if she could purchase me a road atlas, which I would then read over and over and sometimes fall asleep while looking at it. In my mind, maps are so much more than just a tool to help us get where we want to go. In fact, in a way, maps are a story of our civilization. They show what happened in the past, through names and historical monuments. They show what we find to be important, through marking particular points of interest. More than just a story of a civilization, the maps we purchase and use are a story of ourselves. Are we buying road maps for a cross-country adventure? Or a topographic map to venture off into the wilderness with? Maybe you need a Coast Guard map showing water depth and obstructions to avoid while piloting your boat. The maps you own tell a story of what is important to you. Alas, maps have become less important in recent years and many do not have an ability to read them. In an excell...

My wife and I go on frequent adventures. This week, we are in Reno, Nevada looking for a home to move to next month. Driving here was fairly uneventful, as one might imagine a drive down 300 miles of Interstate 80 in the middle of nowhere would be, but there were some things even yesterday that this lesson can apply to. I'll share them briefly, but don't let me make you believe that the drive was awful. For the most part, it was pretty great. Somewhere in the rural desert, we were talking about music. My wife was remembering an experience she had as a child with music and I stated a differing opinion. She was displeased with this and the next thirty minutes didn't involve any talking between the two of us. In Reno, we located a restaurant to eat at. As we exited off Interstate 80, we discovered that everywhere in the city center is under construction, and I mean  everywhere . It probably didn't help that there is some big event happening downtown this week, either....

I can remember two pivotal moments in my childhood that singularly led me to develop an understanding of the importance of temples. Both are simple moments that looking on the outside may not mean much. The first was sometime between 1999 and 2001 (because that's when I lived at Fort Lewis, Washington). My parents had asked babysitters to come watch my sister and I before, but never for them to go to Seattle. Despite only being an hour drive, most of my memories of going to Seattle before high school involve going to the airport to see my dad away on some sort of military training mission. This time around, though, my parents were going the temple. I don't recall them doing it often, but I can still remember this time and how significant it was for them to make the trek north for something that wasn't a flight. The second happened when I was in high school. I spent the first semester of my freshman year in Abilene, Texas. I ran cross country and was getting ready for o...

As I'm sure you can tell from my title, I am going to express some views that I feel go directly against the lesson. I hope that I will be able to explain my reasoning clearly and thoroughly enough that you will at least understand why I have my viewpoint. In this week's lesson, we're discussing the Supreme Court ruling on  Obergefell v. Hodges , which is the case that opened the legality of same-sex marriages throughout the United States. After viewing the materials associated with this lesson, it is my opinion that the Supreme Court was correct in making the change. Moreso, I believe the Supreme Court was the exact forum for this case. As it is written in our laws, it is the Court's place and duty to hear such cases. The majority largely cited the Due Process Clause in allowing the change. I don't think this was the right route to take, despite agreeing with the end result. As Justice Alito pointed out in his dissenting opinion, the case of Washington v. Gluc...