Jimbo's Jots

Every six months, I go to the dentist for a cleaning and “go over” to see if there are any issues with my teeth. Most of the time, I’m good! Every year about this time, I contact my doctor’s office for my annual physical. He checks my blood work and makes sure that there are no major issues. With my dentist or my doctor, if an emergency happens, I can contact their office and get an appointment.

Part of my counseling has been working with couples. Most of my couple counseling has been premarital counseling. I love that! It’s a couple that is still pretty fresh at this whole relationship trek. I tell them that if they practice what I show them in their everyday relationship, then we’ll be celebrating many anniversaries in their future.

I’ve also had the task of a couple who comes in conflict and try to help them re-establish a healthy marital relationship. Sometimes it has worked and others times it hasn’t. Once, while working with a couple whose marriage of 17 years had become broken, told me after many sessions and years, yes I said years of working through their brokenness, said to me, “We wish we would have known this when we first got married. We may not be here today.”

Now, let me say . . . I don’t have a miracle cure all to help a marriage. I use an assessment and program through Prepare-Enrich (www.prepare-enrich.com). It is one of the most comprehensive and practical tools to use with couples at whatever stage they find their relationship themselves in.

Back to the physical . . . I go to my doctor to check to see if everything is still good for me physically. So I’m just going to ask . . . why wouldn’t you want to do the same for your marriage? Why wouldn’t you want to just make sure everything is still good? Like a marriage physical. The Prepare-Enrich team offers couples a “couple check up”. You can do the assessment on your own and then follow up using their material on your own. Or if you wish, you can take the assessment and I’ll help you with the followup.

Over the past several years, my doctor has told me, “Jim, if you want to manage your blood pressure better, you probably should cut this out of your diet.” And I’m good with that for about 2 weeks. But to get better, I need to make the commitment to eat healthier and follow his plan.

I’m saying, “If you really want to check on your marriage with your spouse, you can do this assessment and let me help you find the strengths in your relationship.” I want you to be a better spouse. If you are willing to make that commitment to a healthier relationship, then let me know how I can help.

Be blessed and be a blessing!