A friend shared a link to this post, “I Rented a Car to Protect my Marriage.” I could not agree more. My husband and I don’t use these exact rules, but we have a variation on them that works pretty well for us.
Would perfectly chaste love make such rules unnecessary? Sure. And hence the proverb, “Pride goes before the fall.” We who are subject to human weakness and temptation do ourselves a favor when we have the humility to protect ourselves from ourselves. I’d like to be perfect. Until then, I’ll settle for using reason and action to help my behavior match my intentions.
The Classic Film You Need to See
Bob Hope & Lucille Ball star in a romantic comedy about adultery — yes! I know! — in The Facts of Life. I stumbled upon it by honest mistake. My daughter and I had a girls’ weekend at home planned, so we went to the library looking for a good girl movie to watch while the spoilsports were out of the house. I thought, from reading the blurb on the case, that I was getting one of those late-in-life romances, perhaps featuring old friends now newly-widowed, or who knows what. To my horror, no! The movie was about an affair — an honest-to-goodness cheat-on-your-spouse affair.
–> FYI for parents: This is not a kids’ movie, but other than the entire subject of the film, it’s clean viewing. No sex scenes.
We watched the movie together, and I’d hit pause periodically to point out classic mistake by classic mistake. Every stupid thing married people do, and shouldn’t, is right in that film. It’s a 101 in How to Destroy Your Marriage.
But here’s the clincher: The film ends exactly as it should. Contrition, forgiveness, faithfulness, all marriages still intact. And there’s a beautiful, beautiful scene of manly heroism at the end that I won’t give away, but let’s just say that those ten seconds should be cemented in the brain of every married person on the planet.
Hunt it down and watch it. Make it part of your marriage-prep required viewing. Hilarious, romantic, and so, so true.
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