Friday night, Ren and I went on a date! Actually it was more like a double date with 4 other couples. We had a great time! We started the evening by going to the movie HOPE SPRINGS, staring Tommy Lee Jones & Meryl Streep! I was so curious about it. I mean the title is about HOPE and the topic is about marriage and that’s what Green HOPE Coaching is about too. I was terribly curious what they might do with it. Apparently, so were quite a few others!
It’s a dramedy- you know real life drama with the inevitable comedy mixed in if you are willing to see it.
Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) are a devoted couple, but decades of marriage have left Kay wanting to spice things up and reconnect with her husband. When she hears of a renowned couple’s specialist (Steve Carell, can you imagine?) in the small town of Great Hope Springs, she attempts to persuade her skeptical husband, a steadfast man of routine, to get on a plane for a week of marriage therapy. Just convincing the stubborn Arnold to go on the retreat is hard enough – the real challenge for both of them comes as they shed their bedroom hang-ups and try to re-ignite the spark that caused them to fall for each other in the first place.
Now a lot can be said about it, and believe you me, we did say a lot about it when we met for dinner/desert afterwards. But primarily, we could all identify with the place Kay & Arnold found themselves after 31 years of marriage. We could see things they were doing that led them there. But more importantly, we could see how were were on our way there if we didn’t take some steps toward the marriage we longed for. The conversation ended (I am a relationship coach you know!) with each of us identifying one thing we could do to help us grow together in our marriage instead of apart. It was amazing at the very practical things we came up with. It isn’t rocket science to have a great marriage. It’s simply one right choice after another.
So what’s the one right move you can make today that will move you closer to your spouse?
Leave me a note to let me know what step you are taking. One reason is that the act of writing it here will hold you accountable to your action. But the second reason is that you never know who NEEDS you to share honestly how you are finding HOPE in your marriage, so they can find HOPE in theirs!
HOPE Springs! May you find it flowing freely in your relationship too!