{"id":1299,"date":"2020-01-21T23:53:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T04:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samuelrainey.com\/blog\/?p=1299"},"modified":"2020-01-21T14:04:41","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T19:04:41","slug":"day-10-celebrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/samuelrainey.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/day-10-celebrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 10: Celebrate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is a part of The 15-Day Relationship Challenge. If you\u2019re just now tuning in,\u00a0click here<\/a>\u00a0for the whole series.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORNING<\/strong>
Celebrate! What we have\u00a0accomplished.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Good morning. Welcome to day 10, cellll-ebrate good times, c’mon!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re at day 10, and in case you’ve missed how we got here, take a look at where we’ve been in this 15-Day challenge:
Day 1 – Hello! The gift of welcome.<\/a>\u00a0
Day 2 – Roles. Where we come from.<\/a>
Day 3 – Personalities. Who we are.<\/a>
Day 4 – Top 5, Part 1. Keystone Stories of Loss.<\/a>
Day 5 – Top 5, Part 2. Keystone Stories of Joy.<\/a>
Day 6 – Growth. Who am I becoming?<\/a>
Day 7 – Rest. Let all things be.<\/a>
Day 8 – Remember Us. Our story.<\/a>\u00a0
Day 9 – Grace. Sweat the small stuff.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, we’re going to talk about celebrations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever noticed that your photo albums are all full of pictures from happy moments? There may be a stray picture or two about something sad, but generally we take pictures of happy times. Why? I think it\u2019s because we need more help remembering the good times. Difficult times stick to us like velcro, thus we don\u2019t need help remembering those. It would do our lives good to think and reflect about the happy times as much, or more, as we do for the hard times.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often talk with couples about the relational problems that stem from competition. Competition means that there is a winner and a loser. No one likes to be a loser, and no one wants to be with a loser. So it\u2019s really a lose-lose situation when competition is present in relationships. You might win the argument, decision, debate, but you will ultimately lose. Win the battles lose the war is a horrible strategy. So let\u2019s talk about a different kind of strategy, and a different kind of winning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are battles, and there is a war. The best strategy is to choose your battles, and fight together in the war. Unfortunately it\u2019s easy to confuse our spouse as being the enemy. When this happens, competition is nearby. The real enemy are the threats and forces that are out to break the two of you apart. Societies thrive and prosper when families are in tact and committed to a common purpose together. There are threats a plenty that don\u2019t want socieity to thrive, nor do they want your marriage to prosper.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teammates win together, and they lose together. When we get married we create and join a team together. We give up our individual rights, and together create new rights that serve the team, not just the individual. Tomorrow when we talk about losses, we need a foundation that allows us to grieve together the difficulties and losses in our relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning as a team means that we\u2019re competing together against a common goal, a common enemy. When we win, it calls for celebrations to rejoice and remember the goodness that can be accomplished if we work together. Couples desperately need these monuments of good to remember and hold on to, especially when the storms of life show up and challenge us to the core.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n