What is the biggest influence on your marriage?

For those Christians who are reading this – I’m going to go ahead and assume answer #1 will be individual time in the Word and prayer and the fighting of sin.  That’s a given.

Ok – so what is the second biggest influence in your marriage.

As my husband and I have learned in less than two years of marriage (with a 8mo old son and one on the way) – our answer would be SLEEP.   Just this week: first two days of the week, little mister was awake several times during the night because of congestion and Mister always gets up with him at night (which is a huge blessing to me).  But, that doesn’t give him much sleep to function with.  These last two nights, little dude has slept for 12 hours – only waking up once either night.  What a blessing.  For me, its been warmer in the house this week and we’ve not wanted to turn our air down (saving money), and can’t open our windows because of the pollen, and due to pregnancy I’m both hot and congested.  Fun times – but doesn’t allow for much sleep.

When we woke up this morning after about 8 hours of sleep for both of us (we finally turned the air down and Mister had on three layers of clothes to combat the chill), we woke up rested, laughing and tickling the little mister who was overjoyed to start the day.  Mister commented how much sleep does us good!

Sleep deprivation (whatever is less than the magic number of hours of sleep you need to feel rested) can harm marriages on a daily basis more than a lot of other factors.  Sleep deprivation puts us on edge and we are less likely to think before we speak, be willing to serve, and we are usually more prone to sin when we are sleep deprived.

So, do your marriage a favor: SLEEP!

If it isn’t sleep for you, what is the biggest hindrance in  your marriage on a daily basis?