Health Club or Hospital?

By Alex and Don Flecky, guest authors for Tuesday@10:10

Excerpts printed by permission from July, 2015 blogpost at http://www.evfreefullerton.com

Sometimes when we’re not feeling so good, we go to the doctor. If we’re really in bad shape we may go to the hospital. Most of the time though, we take care of our health little by little. We do it by brushing our teeth or exercising or watching what we eat. Relationships work the same way.

When our relationship isn’t “feeling so good” we may need to have a talk with our spouse or sign up to see a peer counselor. If our relationship is in really bad shape, we may need to go to the “hospital” and see a pastor or therapist or join a support group. 

Our first year of marriage was definitely in need of a “hospital,” when I (Don) thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life in marrying Alex and the only thing keeping us together was my commitment to Christ. We’re grateful that our church offered the help we needed. Our church is a great relationship hospital!

But what about the rest of the time when things seem to be going fine—how are you keeping your relationship healthy? What are the “vitamins” you are taking for your relationship? What relationship “exercising” are you doing?

Marriage classes help couples connect in healthy ways, resolve differences, and grow their relationship. We know—we’ve attended them and now teach some of them. Our church is a great relationship health club!

Bottom line: If you completely ignore your physical health, you’ll get sick. You might even die. The same is true with every marriage relationship. Give it the nourishment and care it needs and enjoy the benefits that God Himself designed for us.


Alex and Don Flecky are founders of CoupleTalk and Marriage Ministries Directors of EvFree Fullerton, CA

Images courtesy of David Castillo Dominici and tiverylucky at FreeDigitalPhotos.net