Tales from the Mommy Trenches

I’m always thirsty for pearls of knowledge regarding married life, because dedicating your entire life in union with another person is, you know, a hefty undertaking and I feel like I need all the help I can get. I was excited when Mama Nell and company were offering a Scripture study/workshop on marriage (I had Scott on board with doing the worksheets and activities and everything), but the study ran in June during the worst of my pregnancy nausea, so I missed the whole thing. I was so disappointed.

Once I started feeling well enough to scroll through my Facebook feed, I saw a short comment buried in a conversation about good Catholic books on one of the Blessed Is She group pages recommending Three to Get Married by Fulton Sheen. Did you follow that sentence? I’m not sure I did. Anyway, coincidence? I think not!

(If you click on the book image, it takes you to my Amazon affiliate link, but feel free to buy it elsewhere if that suits your fancy. I won’t even bat an eyelash. That is how strongly I feel about this book.)

I cannot rave enough about it. My only reservation on recommending it to every married person ever is that it is written from a decidedly Catholic perspective, so consider yourself warned.

Sheen very carefully guides you through what love is, God’s role in marriage, sex and marriage, the role of children in marriage, raising children, and how to make it through the dry spots in your marriage. He makes it so simple that even I could follow it.

The book has so many valuable tidbits of information in it, I found myself pretty much highlighting the whole thing. His description of the family is so poignant.

Everywhere else man may be reverenced and respected for what he can do, for his wealth, his power, his influence, or his charm; but in the family a person is valued because he is.  Pg. 114, (Emphasis mine).

He also speaks most eloquently about the most important verse in the Bible on marriage: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become on flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” Mark 10:7-8.

Deep love does not so much exist between two hearts as between one heart in two bodies. What makes parting and death so tragic to lovers is that it is not two hearts that are separating but one heart that is being broken in two. Pg. 167

What an old softie.

He speaks of how important humility is in marriage (and in life). “No wound caused by quarrels can fester when the ego is willing to humble itself.” Pg. 187. Whoops. That one really hit home.

I’m going to have to stop myself here from quoting the whole book. I know you wish, dear reader, that I had come to this realization a few paragraphs ago, so thank you for indulging me. Moving on!

Have you guys seen the movie The Letters yet? If not, get it on Netflix immediately. It is about Mother Teresa’s ministry amongst the poor in India. Even Scott, who watched it as a personal favor to me and told me before it had even started that he thought it was going to be depressing, admitted that he truly enjoyed it. What he didn’t appreciate was my weeping tears of noisy emotion beside him while he was trying to enjoy it. I blame it on the pregnancy.

As for the TV section of this post, I finished Poldark in an absurdly short amount of time and am looking for a new binge-worthy show. My sisters highly recommend Peaky Blinders, but I’m afraid the violence might be a little much for me. Has anyone watched it yet?

Well, I’ve droned on enough for one post, I reckon. I’d love to hear from you about any good books/resources on marriage that you have found invaluable. One cannot work one’s marriage too much, I’m sure!