The weekend after Linda and I got engaged to be married, we decided to go canoeing one afternoon. She was paddling one direction and I was paddling the othe direction, and we both were determined each of us were doing it right …. Well, before we knew it, the canoe flipped over in the middle of the lake. ! My first thought was she okay? I knew she alright when  she raised her left hand above the water, asking, “Is my Ring okay?”I really like how  Billy Graham how described his  marriage…”Happily Incompatible! Ruth and I didn’t have a perfect marriage, but a great one. In a perfect marriage, everything is always the finest and best imaginable; like a Greek statue, the proportions are exact and the finish is unblemished. Who knows any human beings like that? The unblemished ideal exists only in ‘happily ever after’ fairy tale.  Ruth liked to say, ‘ if two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.’ The most important truth we need to know about marriage is that God gave it to us. True love is an act of the will,  a conscious decision to do what is best for the other person instead of ourselves.”

For an effective relationship there must be mutual love and respect for each other. Along with that, it is important to make a consistent effort to develop good communication skills. The  Bible states “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way.”( 1 Corinthians: 13: 4-5). 

It’s not a matter of “my way or the highway” type of attitude but rather “Our way as we follow God’s plan together”.By the way, this week, over 33 years later, Linda and I went canoeing  for a second time.  (Yes, only our second time!)  Even though Linda was little nervous, it was a great time. We stayed afloat, never flipping, because we both communicated  – working together as a team paddling in the same direction.