One of our New Years Resolutions for 2019 was that we really wanted to focus on a set time every week where we would sit down, connect and really discuss some important things.  Even for the best of communicators, carving out a dedicated time and topic can be extremely helpful in building and strengthening your relationship.

When we sat down to discuss what our weekly discussions would look like, we decided that Saturday nights would be the most appropriate time to talk and reflect on the previous week, and also go over what we wanted to accomplish in the upcoming week.  There were a few things we wanted to incorporate into these talks, those being: our weekly roses and thorns, a specific discussion topic or questions, our business meeting overview and a devotional/book reading.  Of course we would discuss other things, but this provided us a general outline to follow.  Now let’s deep dive into each point:

Roses and Thorns:

This came about because I’ve been listening to the Behind the Scenes Podcast, if you don’t know I am a huge Podcast fan.  I literally listen to them all the time.  Anyway, back to the point… So I have been listening to this Podcast, and one of the things they incorporate into every episode is reviewing their roses and thorns for the week.  If you aren’t familiar with roses and thorns, you might have heard the same thing referred to as peaks and pits.  At it’s simplest form it is a discussion about your high and low for a period of time, usually a week.  While I haven’t incorporated it into our lives yet, I can imagine this exercise is a good source of reflection and communication between spouses and/or families.

Discussion Topic or Question:

Simply just a question or topic that we want to focus on for that week.  It may have been something that we found online, got from a friend or family, an area of opportunity or something we are doing well.  Really just anything.

Business Meeting:

Your marriage is a business, it is your business.  Discussing finances, events, things needing follow-up is important to ensure you both are on the same page.  Read all about our business meetings and get the template we use here: Marriage: Business Meetings

Devotional or Book Readings:

In the last couple of years I have really gotten into reading couples devotionals or books relating to maintaining healthy marriages.  Some of the information or insight provided in these readings can be particularly helpful.

As we navigate through this, this year we wanted to give you the opportunity to follow along!  We will be sharing our roses and thorns, topic of the week, devotional or book reading highlights as well as anything we learned or felt was particularly helpful.  We hope that you participate and if you are comfortable, share yours as well.  So keep an eye out for our weekly discussion blog posts!