12 Character-Building Moments in Marriage

Our friend, Michael Wang was outside his house, working on the lawn, when I stopped by to see him and his precious wife, Ashley this afternoon. It is steaming hot in Atlanta today and their yard is enormous, but he was determined to fix the mower and finish the job.


I was laughing as he described the old mower and the way his legs shook as he rode it for THREE hours at a time. It reminded me of Clay, working on our old mower when we lived in our first house on Briar Pond Way.


Cutting the grass with a hand-me-down mower is just one of the character-building moments in a young marriage. One day, Michael and Ashley will laugh at their pain, but today, they might just sweat. Below are twelve more character builders that young couples have the priviledge of experiencing.


1. Painting a room together (or in our case, an entire house... along with some wonderful friends who probably hate us after that)

2. Creating your first budget

3. Renting a tiny apartment and loving every square inch of it

4. Taking the plunge to buy the first house... and then moving all of your junk into it

5. Taking care of your spouse when he or she has the stomach flu

6. Getting lost together, without a GPS

7. Assembling any kind of furniture

8. Potty-training a dog together

9. Scurrying to prepare for your first dinner party

10. Trying to fix your own plumbing problems

11. Rescuing your spouse whose car has died on the side of the road

12. Searching for keys together