When we first got married, I thought Jim and I were supposed to spend every waking moment together. I mean, we’d picked each other–or better yet–God had brought us together as soul mates. Why in the world would we want to be apart if we didn’t have to?
Genesis 2:24 – For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Right? At first, it was Jim who came up with the idea of “alone time” as being one of the keys to happiness in marriage. He needed a little time to himself every now and then. And eventually I caught on. As crazy as I am about my husband, I like the occaisonal day or evening or morning or whatever all to myself. It makes our marriage better if we part ways so that we can come back together and share our seperate experiences. Time to know who WE are, so we can be united in harmony.
Five times Proverbs mentions how difficult life is with a quarrelsome wife. It’s better to live on the corner of the roof or to live in the dessert than to have a quarrlesome wife. A quarrlesome wife is like constant dripping–and so is a quarrelsome husband. And what causes us to be quarrelsome? Well, constant proximity can have that effect.
We all need “alone time” and what better way to spend it than in fellowship with God? Meditation, relaxation, time to listen to the still, small voice that is so often drowned out in our day-to-day interaction.
Q4U – How do you spend your “alone time” and how does it renew you?
Meet Sarah
You know my answer before I give it. Reading, jigsaw puzzles, books, watching birds and squirrels and shopping for that unusual special gift. I think the hardest for others to understand is doing the jigsaw puzzles. When I first dump it out, it may seem daunting, even impossible; but I have learned to find such satisfaction in sticking with it piece by piece till the full picture is complete… like so many difficult things in life.
Just wait till Jim retires and you will really learn how necessary “alone time” is to preventing the quarrelsome wife/husband syndrome!
There’s a great trail that falls into the woods four or five blocks south of my neighborhood. I take the sidewalks until they cease, then pick up that path that’s edged in ivy and occasionally crossed by limbs. There are boulders three-quarters of the way in, and I stop there. This is my most consistent place for alone time. Because it’s scarcely populated, I enjoy the freedom of talking to myself. I carry a small notebook and scribble my thoughts. The notes are initially work-related and often evolve into personal reflections.
This trail helps me clear the weeds to get to the flowers.
I love that you talk to yourself in the woods. I sing to myself in the woods, because no one wants to hear me. Nothing like striding along, singing at the top of my lungs and suddenly running into one of the VERY few hikers on the trails at the end of our street. Ah, hello.