Week 6 Blog

     This week we talked about the transition points in marriage and in relationships. Transition points are the best way to guide and move your relationship the way you want it to go. Some of the main transitions we talked about were: dating, courtship, engagement, marriage, ready for kids. Let's go through these one by one. 

    A relationship first starts with two people meeting and becoming interested in getting to know each other better. Kind of like how we talked about in last weeks blog, you might meet someone from hanging out, or maybe asking them on a date. Then once you have met them you probably ask them out on a date to really see if it is someone you are interested in, it will probably take more than one date to really find that out. I think it is also important to do a wide range of dates so you can see the hobbies of the person and see how they act in certain situations. 

    Once you have gone on a couple dates you would decide to be boyfriend and girlfriend and actually start dating. I have never been in a relationship, but I think the idea is that when you are dating you don't go on dates with anyone else and you would start spending a lot of time with your boyfriend/girlfriend. We talked a little bit about how girls can be afraid of commitment which can sometimes make it hard to get into an actual relationship. I think boys can sometimes have a hard time with commitment as well though. Deciding to be in a relationship can be a big deal, you won't be going out with other girls and you probably won't be hanging out with your other friends as much either because you want to be spending time with you boyfriend/girlfriend. 

    If you do start dating and things are going well you will then enter what is called a courtship. Not much changes between a courtship and a dating except that things are getting more serious. You have probably started talking about marriage and you are looking further in the future than just a simple relationship. 

    After courtship is when things start getting exciting. The proposal!! Engagement has changed a lot over the years, nowadays it isn't even really a surprise. The couple will ring shop, pick out a ring. Some couples might even have an idea of where they want to do it. I think now it is a surprise of when not a surprise of if. Couples know they are going to get engaged the boy just picks a time and does his best to surprise his fiancé. Engagement can be stressful as well, there isn't much turning back once you get engaged. You are gonna have kids together and be together forever. You also will have to learn how to merge your lives together because there won't be much separation, you will be living together. Also, what about money? You're gonna have to start working together to pay the bills. The biggest part might be the wedding planning, the wedding has a lot of big decisions to think about and planning the wedding together will be the first time you make a big decision together, it will show a lot about how the marriage will go.

    Now for the actual marriage. We talked about the idea that some couple think that once they get married a lot of their problems will be resolved. That is not the case, the opposite will actually happen. Your lives are now combined which means you have the same problems and have to figure out how to solve them together. There needs to be trust in the marriage. We need to trust our partner enough to give our life to them and help them with theirs. When we get married we make covenants, not just to each other but to God as well. The covenants aren't made to the partner, they are made individually to God. Marriage is tough, but when we put our faith in God and let Him help the marriage it can be a beautiful thing.