I wanted to help you understand why I always sign my posts with ‘Keepin’ marriage fresh," and stress how cool this idea is to marriages. A while ago I was looking at the definitions of “fresh” and “freshening,” and “freshen.” I really loved some of the definitions Webster’s dictionary provided. These are the definitions that I found for FRESH, and FRESHEN, and I’m going to tell you how I interrupt and apply this to marriages.

fresh

a.  Having its original qualities unimpaired. Continuing to be like you were as newlyweds! Excited about the adventure of marriage! Full of love! Full of sexual desire! Enjoying the new experiences together! Life can change us of course, but we can keep those same qualities that made us fall for each other in tact if we work at it.

b. Full of or renewed in vigor. We will all go through ruts or difficult times but we can renew that same vigor we had as newlyweds!

c. Not stale, sour, or decayed. THOSE WORDS ARE SCARY WHEN YOU APPLY THEM TO MARRIAGE, RIGHT?! I never want to let my marriage to go stale without any life to it. I never want to let my marriage go sour without love and kindness in it. And I never want to let my marriage decay over the years and became less than what it is now.

d. Not altered by processing. This one is tricky because I can’t imagine not being changed by the natural processing of marriage. I think the difference is that we can let difficult experiences damage our marriage for the worse, or we can let those experiences work towards our good and make us better.

e. Received newly or anew.  Accept that you need something new in your marriage! Maybe you need to mix up date night, maybe you need a fresh start after a series of fights. We all will come across these points in our marriage so it’s inevitable that we need to try something new.

FRESHEN

a. To make something fresh. This takes work! You can’t snap your fingers and have a new beginning to your marriage. You have to find what could make things better or make you both happier, and you try it out.

b. To cause something to be more pleasant. Your marriage at the very least should be pleasant, right?! If it’s not, work at making it more pleasant! If you don’t make it more pleasant now, it will continue to be unpleasant.

c. To grow or become fresh. I LOVE THE WORDING HERE, because it’s important that we experience growth in our marriage! I am a huge believer that we should always be progressing in life and in every stage. Whether that means we have to find growth through the angry and heartbreaking times, or through the beautiful moments, I see that growth as a new chapter of your marriage. :)

d. To become fresh in appearance or vitality. You remember that certain glow of sheer love and infatuation that newlyweds have for each other? That appearance and those feelings can come back. You can bring love and life back into your marriage and you will see the difference. And not only will other people notice it, but they will remember it and strive to find that vitality within themselves :)

If you continue to be a part of Freshly Married, I will continue to provide you with ideas and inspiration for applying these definitions above. You will find ideas on being more pleasant to one another, growing through the hard times with each other, changing how your marriage looks and feels, keeping your marriage from becoming boring or decaying, and finding that vigor you once had as newlyweds!

Seriously though let’s work to keep our marriages fresh every day! Follow me on social media for daily inspiration and advice for how we can do this!

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