Creating a Bond

Today as I was mowing I was thinking about how good it felt that Elmer and I were sharing the duties  of lawn care.  I realized that we don't have to go on dates,(although that is important) to grow closer. What we need to do is spend bonding time together; to form a team to live this life together. God created husband and wife to share life in all forms. We don't have to be joined at the hip every moment of every day but we need to be joined in our heart and mind. When we have young children it is often difficult to get away on dates and we are often too tired to even spend a big chunk of quality time together. However. just sharing child duty or shopping for groceries together, helping each other with household duties can create a bond.
Bedtime even when we are too exhausted for anything else:)is a time for discussing things that your kids don't need to hear or sharing stories about your day. I remember thinking during a busy day, while taking care of my kids, that Oh I can't forget to tell Elmer about this or that. There were many times of telling him stories about my day and laughing hysterically about something that probably wasn't really that funny but just talking to another adult who understood more than a few word felt fantastic!
Creating a bond with somebody or something allows you to feel close to that person or thing even when you're not together. This is probably a wacky example but I used to help my dad with his swarms of honeybees. They are such fascinating creatures. They are a very industrious, intelligent insect creating honey out of pollen. Anyhow to get back on track I spent a lot of time creating a bond with honey bees and to this day when I'm mowing the yard it makes me sad when I mow over one.
I think that is how our relationship with God needs to be too. We need to spend so much time getting to know him and talking to Him that even when we are not consciously praying to him we still feel that bond with Him. When something comes across our path that doesn't agree with His teachings, we will feel it because of that strong bond.
I love when Elmer and I are both at home when maybe he is working outside and I am getting things done inside and yet it still feels like we are right beside each other. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't put my hand on his arm when we are settling down to sleep and I tell God thank you for giving me such a wonderful husband to love and cherish. That ritual started when I was thinking about the wedding vows; to love and to cherish, one day. I told God that I know I love Elmer but do I cherish him. Cherish to me means to go above and beyond  love and I wasn't sure that I was properly cherishing my husband. I asked God to help me figure that one out. When I started consciously trying to find new ways to"cherish" my husband it created an even stronger bond between the two of us.
If you're marriage is not as close as you want it to be ask God for help. He is definitely on the side of saving a marriage!