Well, before the time passes too much more, I will let you know how our weekend on the marriage retreat was. We actually had a good time. Wayne had reservations in the beginning because he just didn’t know a lot of the people. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but we went with a group from the church that I grew up in. Yes, we have been visiting this church for a few months now, but Wayne was still very unfamiliar with a lot of the people. We were in a house with 4 other couples. Two of the couples were closer to our age and hadn’t been married quite as long as us. The other 2 were older and had been married a bit longer. I think their years of marriage were 11 and 12, maybe?
Friday night was just a time to get settled in and meet the owners of our bed and breakfast homes and check-in. We did have a time with the whole group as an introduction period and we each discussed 2 things that made our marriages stronger. The pastor spoke a few words of encouragement and then we broke to play games and basically settle for the evening.
Saturday morning, we woke bright and early and had breakfast at our homes around 8. I must say that our home owners were wonderful chefs. Breakfast was one of the highlights of our weekend. For most of the morning, we separated into small groups and had discussions about our marriages and how they can benefit (and possibly break down) the church. This time for Wayne and I was very beneficial. During the second session, we were talking about change in the church and change in general. A lot of the topics dealt directly with some of the changes going on in that church specifically so, Wayne and I just kept quiet. Well, someone spoke up and asked us what we felt about change because we had been kind of quiet. It was then, that Wayne really spoke up about some things that had happened to him in the past and a lot about our spiritual walk. By the end, I really started to get emotional. I am not sure why. I think it was more because of the fact that now someone else knew what we (I) had been feeling. Our spiritual life, covering since the time that we met, was laid on the table – by Wayne. Well, I say “our spiritual life”, but really more-so Wayne’s. I think the tears were more tears of joy and relief that our story was out to these other 3 couples. I also think the relief came because he was telling it. He was opening up.
In response, they gave very good insight to what Wayne was saying. One of the ladies and the lead gentleman followed up at the end of our session and stated that we all needed to think about either mentoring or being a mentor to another couple in the church. It definitely will serve as an accountability partner. Not just for one of the spouses, but for both. If you can’t tell already, I have a very soft and tender heart about our spiritual walk. I tread very lightly when it comes to this matter because my conscience gets to me more about this than anything else. I know there are a lot of things that I need to work on when it comes to my faith. There are things that Wayne and I need to work on together.
** Sidenote: Wow, that was much more than I planned to put into this. But, I guess when the words start going, I just can’t stop! Oh, and it does help to put it out there. I guess this is the start of my “diary” part of this blog. **
For the majority of the remainder of the weekend, Wayne and I spent a lot of time together and walking around New Bern. We took a lot of pictures as well, as you can see from my previous posting. We did have a GREAT time watching a lot of the group learning to square dance Saturday afternoon. Now, that… was a HOOT!
All in all, I am really glad that we took the time to go on this retreat. I think this is the beginning of something special for Wayne and me. He may not think the same right now, but maybe in the future, he will look back on this and then think the same.
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