Strengthening Your Relationship with Regular "Couple Meetings" Main Article LDS Perspective

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Many marriage researchers recommend that married couples hold regular "couple meetings." Church leaders, too, have long recommended a council approach to setting goals, clarifying expectations and responsibilities, dealing with differences, and solving problems in families. The council approach has special application in marriage. Elder Robert L. Simpson (1982) recommended:

Every couple, whether in the first or the twenty-first year of marriage, should discover the value of pillow-talk time at the end of the day--the perfect time to take inventory, to talk about tomorrow. And best of all, it's a time when love and appreciation for one another can be reconfirmed. The end of another day is also the perfect setting to say, "Sweetheart, I am sorry about what happened today. Please forgive me." You see, we are all still imperfect, and these unresolved differences, allowed to accumulate day after day, add up to a possible breakdown in the marital relationship--all for the want of better communication, and too often because of foolish pride. (p. 21)

Whether a couple chooses to counsel together at the end of the day or at other times, they would be wise to follow the Lord's instruction to "reason together" (D&C 50:10) openly and calmly as they address concerns in their relationship. Elder Simpson states that this kind of discussion includes "no arguing, no haranguing, no backbiting, but rather reasoning together with soft-spoken voices" (p. 22).

References

Simpson, R. L. (1982, May). A lasting marriage. Ensign, 21-22. Retrieved July 2003, from http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1982.htm/ensign%20may%201982%20.htm/a%20lasting%20marriage.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0$q=$x=$nc=770