Marriage
September 2025
: Thirteen In many ways, wedding anniversaries are like adult birthdays. They are a moment to pause and …
March 2025
: Theology of Marriage Until recently, marriage was a unifying thread of the human experience, seen across cultures, …
June 2023
: Symbiosis Nature is a constant teacher. So many of the natural things that occur in our lives and in our …
September 2021
: Nine Earlier this month, Alison and I marked our ninth wedding anniversary. In years past, I’d take the …
June 2021
: Sprinting Alison and I will celebrate our nine-year anniversary this fall. It’s been a very full and busy nine …
May 2021
: Team I’ve been out of school for more than a decade. Alison and I have four kids, own our home, and …
August 2020
: Eight It’s been a very fast eight years since Alison and I met at the altar and committed ourselves to one …
: Together It’s amazing what spouses can do when they work together. Alison and I are fast approaching our …
September 2019
: Seven Seven years ago, Alison and I started our life together. Captured so perfectly in the photograph in …
December 2018
: Making Breakfast It’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Most mornings, I invest a few minutes in my …
May 2018
: Why Boredom Happens I was at our Credit Union last week conducting some business when one of the employees remarked that …
January 2018
: Living in A Fantasy I love reading the paper. I’ve written about that fact several times on this blog. Perhaps my …
December 2016
: Make 2017 A Change Year I love this last week of the year. There’s a feeling of hope and anticipation for the New Year. …
: Redacting In-Law Marriage is full of misunderstanding. While in our circle of friends and in media we bemoan the lack …
November 2016
: The First Step to Being A Better Spouse Everyone wants a happy marriage, but not everyone is willing to work for it. We’ve become too …
September 2016
: The Three Stages of Every New Marriage As the ultimate Throwback Thursday, Alison and I are celebrating our four year wedding anniversary. …
July 2016
: The Rightful Place for Sex We love sex. We love it so much that sex has found itself in just about every quarter of our lives. …
May 2016
: Gift Giving There are many ways to express your love to your wife. Using the words, doing some chores, caring …
April 2016
: Etiquette in Marriage I recently wrote about my thoughts on reading “Emily Post’s Essential Manners for Men: Second …
March 2016
: The Insidious Nature of Stress One of my greatest relational weaknesses is a knee-jerk reaction to place blame. It’s a quick …
February 2016
: Stay the Course If there’s one thing that we can count on, it’s change. Perfectly laid plans are disrupted by …
: Random Acts of Service Last Fall, Alison was on call one night at the hospital here in town. The proximity to our house to …
: Why I’m Optimistic Inviting God into every aspect of your life is clearly an excellent idea. Having His help and …
January 2016
: Long Term Thinking Life in the Collins household has been in full motion as of late. Just after Thanksgiving we bought …
: Why Marriages Fail One of the main roles in the household for husbands is to take care of all of the little details …
: Inconvenient Times of Need If there’s one thing about marriage that’s true, it’s that your spouse often needs you when it’s …
December 2015
: 2015: The Year of the Gazelle I absolutely love this time of year. The anticipation of Advent, the joy of sharing Christmas …
November 2015
: A Family of Saints During this year’s Synod on the Family, Pope Francis canonized Louis and Marie-Azelie Martin, the …
: Your Sacred Ring In the Catholic Church, we have aids that help to remind ourselves of God’s loving presence in our …
: Never Rush Decisions It’s only when I rush into something that I get burned. Alison and I have recently been car …
: Dating in the Married Life The ordinary needs to be challenged. In the days of dating your wife, there was much newness in the …
: Take Advantage of Financial Booms There’s nothing better than a family financial boom. Flush with cash, you and your spouse breathe a …
October 2015
: Rethinking Together Time Is residency over yet? With just under 18 months to go, I’m so done with all of this. Alison’s …
: Diligent Budgeting Diligent budgeting requires three distinct toolsets: allocating, tracking, and accounting. Although …
: Things Will Never Make You Happy When there’s something that I want to buy, I tend to develop a laser-like focus on achieving that …
September 2015
: Enough About Sex Already I have zero interest in your sexual preferences. Frankly, it’s none of my business. Yet, we’ve …
August 2015
: The Two Most Important Times of Day There are two critical times of interaction with your wife each day. They are the times are when you …
: Vacations Without Your Kids Our children’s dependance on us is both proper and something that needs to be managed. It’s a …
: Fighting Financial Fatigue Perhaps the most difficult struggle that any of us face in reaching our financial goals is the …
: How to Move Past the Worst Mistakes Perhaps the most painful mistakes you or I will ever make will involve money. Bad buying decisions, …
: How to Help Your Wife Live Her Dreams Alison has been accepted into a medical Natural Family Planning course later this year. I’m not sure …
July 2015
: Are You Taking A Pay Cut? Spring is my favorite season. It’s used to be fall because I absolutely love cold, grey, steely …
: How to Spend More Time with Your Wife Earlier this year, during one of Alison’s many rotations, she was assigned to a hospital about 45 …
: Is Your Wife Your Only Friend? Admittedly, this is going to be a bit of an awkward post for me. While I wish I was living out the …
: Pride and Money Mistakes Money just might be the most personal thing in the world. Almost no other topic causes people to …
: The Joy of Giving Earlier this year, while at the March for Life, Alison and I were approached by a man selling …
June 2015
: The Best Thing About Permanence Marriage is designed to last. While that’s a simple statement, the implausibility of the construct …
: Quality Time Takes Time The difference between men and women becomes abundantly clear when it comes to quality time. For …
: Staying On Budget Going over budget is never a good thing. Not only does it mean that you have to find the money …
May 2015
: Get Your Wife to Heaven If you want to be a really good husband, direct all of your actions towards getting your wife into …
: Marriage and Patience A few weeks ago, Alison and I went to a live radio show. That sentence felt weird to type, but it’s …
: Relational Fresh Air If on your Wedding Day you expected your marriage to be full of positive emotions and the warm …
: How to Allocate Charitable Dollars I love the hum of the mail truck. Although we live on a busy street, there’s a particular sound that …
April 2015
: Book Review: Marriage Last December, during one of our regular visits to my parent’s house, my dad handed me a book of his …
: 3 Ways to Pamper Your Wife this Weekend Weekends are a great time for some TLC. After a long week, often spent apart, the weekends afford us …
: Valentine’s Day Isn’t Over I made a huge mistake last year. In honor of Alison’s birthday, I coordinated among our family to …
: Humility in Marriage Marriage is unlike anything else in our world. It’s a relationship that cannot be fully comprehended …
: Complex Sexual Histories Recently, I’ve been considering the role of men in the family life. It’s a complex issue, and one …
: Stop Joking About Marriage A few weeks ago, I was getting my hair cut. The barber asked what I did, and I told him that I’m a …
: Nip Problems in the Bud We all have a bit of a flair for the dramatic. While we may despise personal conflict, we’re a bit …
March 2015
: Intent Matters in Sex One of the best books on the argument for marriage the way that we understand it is What is …
: Drop Everything for Her When Benedict is in the family room playing, anytime he hears the locks on the front door turning, …
: Missing Alison Alison’s work schedule is, at times, a real challenge for me. On her month of nights, she’d be at …
: Be Full of Surprises A few days before Valentine’s Day, my sister texted me asking what my plans were. “Are you going to …
: An Undivided Heart When I was in college, I loved dating. I went on dates with many women, was in a relationship with a …
February 2015
: Forget About Being Right There are many commonly held beliefs about marriage that I refuse to subscribe to. Over the past two …
: Three Ways to Improve Date Night Now that Alison’s internship is starting to wind down and she’s finished with her examinations and …
: Your Role As Husband The role of husband is perhaps the most challenging role that any man faces. As a single man, the …
: Do Valentine’s Day Right —PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT— WARNING! Valentine’s Day is in 4 days. WARNING! As a man, you might be …
January 2015
: There Will Be Stress In marriage you share everything, including stress. You won’t find that little jewel printed on any …
: Love Letters from the Past Recently, I went through all of my Facebook messages and deleted old conversations. I’ve never been …
: Small Changes Yield Big Results So many things in our lives are fully within our control. We control our emotions, reactions, and …
December 2014
: Better Understand Your Budget We love to hate budgets. It can be annoying to do them, we always forget to add things, and they’re …
: Sex Isn’t Just for the Bedroom It’s quite easy to see that we’ve really got a complete misunderstanding of the meaning of sex. On …
: Surround Your Marriage with Friends The life of a young single person is filled with friendships of all degrees. Think back to your …
: Planning for A Better Marriage in 2015 A lifetime together is a journey of 1,000 miles. Each day, you take small steps forward and, some …
: How Our Budget Committee Works Alison and I have been married for 26 months. That means that our Budget Committee has assembled 26 …
: Make Her Bedtime Better The way in which we prepare for bed directly affects how much time we spend tossing and turning. …
November 2014
: 3 Steps to Help You Reach Your Financial Goals Setting goals is hard. Reaching financial ones is even more difficult. Money flows in and you …
: IKEA Builds More than Furniture IKEA just might be the greatest store in the world. The entire showroom is a playground for adults …
October 2014
: The Best Way to Make it Up to Her There are many times in our relationships that we make mistakes. There are times when we don’t love …
: Quiet Time Together There’s a belief that whenever spouses have “together time,” they should be actively chatting or …
: Bedroom As Sacred Space We have many rooms in our homes, but perhaps the most curious is the bedroom. We have an entire …
: Going the Extra Mile for Her You can’t be a minimalist husband. Marriage demands something more. Marriage demands all that you …
: How to Fight with Your Wife Fights in your marriage will happen. They will range in severity, but, from time to time, you will …
September 2014
: 2 Years In Two weeks ago, Alison and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary. I’d like to share with you …
August 2014
: 101 Ways to Love We all want to be someone great. But do we have the courage to be more than average? When I turned …
: In Marriage, Time Doesn’t Equal Success In your lifetime, you’ll try many new things. You’ll be an amateur at a lot of hobbies. More …
: How to Start Your End of Day Conversations Questions are powerful. Through the power of questioning, you can open up a whole new world. You …
: Candlelit Dinners There’s something really special about candlelit dinners. I’m not sure which committee in history …
: Loving On A Budget Romance doesn’t have to be expensive. Alison and I have a series of financial goals for ourselves. …
: Plan Your Dreams When you dream, dream big. Alison and I have many dreams. One of them is for us to go on our …
: Waking Up Together As I write this, it’s 5:18am on a Wednesday morning. I’ve been up for 38 minutes. So far, I’ve …
July 2014
: Marriage Rules, Secularism Drools Many people, perhaps a good segment of your friends and peers, have a negative view of marriage. …
: Stealing Little Moments Your day is a series of blocks of time. Every 15 or 30 minutes, you have your time parsed out to one …
: Attend to Her Needs A major theme of this blog is personal service. I believe that the most fun you’ll have is in …
: Golden Hour Playing with kids all day is fun. As adults, however, we need time for ourselves. We need time to …
: Open to Life In our society, especially recently, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about ways to avoid …
: Sync Status Relationships have seasons. Sometimes they’re going really well and other times, well, they’re not. …
: Cash is King, but Not God Money makes the world go around. Currency allows us to buy things, both needs and wants. Cash is …
June 2014
: The Blame Game Perhaps the most crippling and meaningless activity in American workplaces is the blame game. Every …
: What A Nice Compliment As a society that strives for absolute equality, we’ve really missed the boat on something key. In …
: Love Letters Marriage is all about daily rediscovery. Being that marriage is a relationship that spans several …
May 2014
: How to Handle Decisions One of the biggest jumps to make between the single life and the married life is the transition to …
: 10 Date Night Ideas There’s a growing body of research that’s demonstrating that regular date nights with your spouse …
: Sleeping with A Friend A few months ago, I wrote about how I’ve been trying to watch what types of media I consume. The …
April 2014
: How to Be An Awesome Husband Step 1: Do something that will make your wife’s life easier. Step 2: Repeat.
: Inside Jokes We all love to be a part of inside jokes. These jokes come about when we have a shared experience …
March 2014
: Be Adventurous Marriage isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. Marriage isn’t “turning in the keys.” It’s putting the …
: What this Ring Means Your wedding ring is a constant reminder of your wife’s love and fidelity. It’s a circle, without …
: Having Serious Talks Daily married life is often light and playful. There are jokes, stories, and general bonding. There …
: Your Marriage Your marriage was meant for good. Your marriage was meant for permanence. Your marriage was meant …
: Finding Time to Pray Together Prayer in common is a tradition in Catholicism that goes back to our beginnings. Catholics, though …
: How She Communicates Communication. We all want lots of high quality communication, but it can be difficult to find. In a …
: Budget Committee Finances are central to our lives. Money is how we buy the things we need, and do the things we …
: Live Like You’re Dating Think for a moment about the early days of dating. A new relationship is fresh, vibrant, and …
: Celebrate Achievements Life is a scoreboard. We set goals and then measure our progress against them. While this …
February 2014
: Supporting Your Wife’s Goals In the past, I’ve written about personal goal setting. What about helping your wife when she’s got a …
: Why You Always Lose Conflict in your marriage is a certainty. You and your wife are working towards the same goals, but …
: Fight with Your Wife We live in a culture that despises conflict, but loves drama. We think that conflict means that …
: Little Surprises Love can be a difficult thing to show. Since it’s an abstract concept, bringing it into the physical …
January 2014
: Recognize Her Value The other day I was looking at my iPhone. As I looked at the many apps that have earned a spot on my …
: Chastity in Marriage The most common misconception of Catholic teaching on sexuality is that once you’re married, you’re …
: Keeping Things Spicy The institution of marriage is mind-blowing. Two people with two completely different personalities, …
: Pushing for A Joint Goal Working in unison with your wife can be a powerful tool. In fact, when you both set your minds to a …
: Lightening Her Load All vocations are a calling to serve others. The single person is called the Church and community. …
: Dealing with Life’s Major Decisions We’ve all come to a crossroads. Two paths that certainly have their benefits, but we can only choose …
December 2013
: Laying Down Your Life for Her Marriage was designed to be a reflection of Christ’s love for the Church. Being part of such a union …
: Your Vows Aren’t Stagnant Your wedding is a day, marriage is a lifetime. Those words are so true, but we can easily forget the …
: Couple Friends The relationship between a husband and wife is both exclusive and complete. By its design, it can …
: Saying Sorry Masculine pride will tell you that apologies are weakness. It will tell you that the person who …
: The Genius of Marriage The place of marriage in society is something that is being fiercely questioned in our world today. …
November 2013
: Safe in Her Arms Many of us have some major trust issues. We’ve all been hurt deeply by someone we love. Those …
: Praying for Her As husbands, we are called to support our wives. That support comes in many different forms. It may …
: How Nature Can Enhance Your Marriage One of the biggest struggles that married couples face is the monotony of the normal. Married life, …
October 2013
: Invite Her to Your Element A great thing about being married is that your spouse is not you. You have been raised in a …
: The Most Commonly Missed Opportunity Regret is a terrible thing. It only happens when we look back and realized we had a missed …
: Shared Goals The power of unity in your marriage can’t be underestimated. When you and your wife move together …
: When Your Love Languages Don’t Translate There may come a point in your marriage when you realize something. You and your wife may …
September 2013
: Bonding Bonding. We all have our favorite “bonding” activities to do with our spouse. Maybe it is curling up …
: The Art of Negotiation One of the most critical skills you can develop in your marriage is the art of negotiation. Marriage …
: Marriage without Love The first few months of your marriage are wonderful. You learn that your new wife has some habits …
: There Will be Problems There is one thing that you can count on in marriage: there will be problems. If both of you are the …
: Keeping Romance Alive Having just celebrated our one year anniversary, I admit that I’m not an expert on the topic of …
: The Joy of Weddings Now that I have been married for almost a year, I have had the pleasure of experiencing several …
August 2013
: Uncrossing Your Signals It has been my experience in former relationships that when communication breaks down, the end is …
: Communication is Critical Communication is key. But what if you don’t have the keys to your communication? By now, you realize …
July 2013
: In Sickness On your Wedding Day, you promise to take care of your wife, in sickness and in health. That’s kinda …
: Husband as Protector As a husband (and father, too!) we have a very important role to fill. It is one that we simply …
: Speak Well of Her How you speak about your wife when she is not around says a lot about the kind of man that you are. …
: She’ll Drive You Nuts It is getting pretty hard to find a guarantee anymore. But I’m all about adding value, so I’ll give …
: Nothing Sexier Than an AIDS Test Let’s get real. There is nothing sexier than getting an AIDS test with your fiancee. (Not even a …
: It’s A Race to the Top! “Marriage is an adventure, like going to war." - GK Chesterton When my wife first showed me that …
: Happiness: Width vs. Depth So, you’re considering getting married? You are all excited about your potential future with this …
: Marriage: The Ultimate Team Sport Being married is like being on a game show. You have chosen a partner with whom you will compete …
: Family Merging When you get married, you become something totally new. Two worlds, two families, two long lines of …
June 2013
: She’s Perfect Your wife is perfect for you. She is exactly what you need. From the beginning of time and space, …
: If She’s Not With You, Don’t Do It Having a good wife is a great blessing. Not all men have good wives. Some women only care about …
: Choosing Your Pain In your marriage, there will be pain. This is inevitable. There are three types of pain. Some of the …
: Pray Together The old saying goes, “The family that prays together, stays together.” Sadly, today many families …
: Loyalty vs. Fidelity In this past Christmas Season, I had been reading some of the writings of Archbishop Chaput. In one …
: Here’s An Idea When you get home early this week, before your wife, get ready for her. Pick up your mess, draw her …
May 2013
: If You’re Keeping Score, You Lose If you’re keeping score, you lose. We are naturally competitive. It is natural for us to try to be …
: If You Wait If you wait until you think you’re ready to get married, you’ll never get married.
: Ring Control Device I drive a lot for work. Last year, I put 35,000 miles on my car. As a Christmas gift, my parents …
: Why is it so Hard to Pray Together? Why is it so hard to pray with your wife? Intellectually, we’re there. We understand the benefit. We …
: I Slept with A Woman Last Night This morning, I woke up and there was a woman in bed with me. It was my wife. It is a story that …
: If You Both Give 50%, You’ll Fail Just over a month after my wedding, my wife and I attended my brother’s wedding. It was a beautiful …
: Financial Dreams Money is something that people don’t like to talk about. The only thing we like to do with money is …
April 2013
: I Had A Win My desk, at the end of the day, is always completely clear. I am a generally clean person. I try to …
: Stop Sabotaging Your Marriage The summer before my wife and I got married, I received a transfer for work to the city where she …
: Division of Labor In my 9th Grade World History Class, one of the key areas of investigation for any particular …
: The Apartment Phase Our lives have phases. There are good phases and there are not so good phases. There is one …
: Mr. Fix-It As men, we like to fix things. See a problem, fix a problem. We enjoy the challenge. We believe that …
: Love Languages When I was studying at Franciscan University in Ohio, one of the big relational topics that people …
: Cherish the Good Times Marriage is hard. Like anything in life, it has its own seasons. Some days are more amazing than the …
: A New Identity In our life, we experience many transformations. We change from a child into an adolescent. We …
: How to Not Accidentally Cheat We live in a modern era. The way that we work is very much different than in days gone by. People …
: Lessons from Downton Abbey My wife and I don’t have cable. We are currently on the Dave Ramsey plan and, well, we don’t really …
: Try Serving Growing up, every day, my parents used to require that each of the kids read a book for 30 minutes …
March 2013
: Trust Your Wife What’s the secret to a successful marriage? Trust your wife. Trust your wife when the storms brew …
: Organic Child Planning is Sexy Contraception is a lie. The pitch is simple. You’re a young, hip, independent woman. You have the …
: Can She Really Always Be Right I am not a prideful man. Whenever I must observe myself or a behavior, if the answer is that I am in …
: Two Areas of Your Life You Cannot Afford to Neglect Time is our most precious commodity. For so many things in life, we can change the circumstances and …
: Welcome to the Beginning Welcome, friend! Well, there I am on my wedding day. A spry young man. As a friend would say, “Just …