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The Freedom to Grow - Without Growing Apart · Doing Marriage Well

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  Doing Marriage Well for July 8, 2026 The Freedom to Grow Without Growing Apart,
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  Today's marriage freedom is the freedom to grow and change.
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  No matter how old you were when you got married, you and your spouse were still growing up.
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  Growing up is a lifelong process. It tends to be faster at younger ages.
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  External situations can cause significant growing up, with having a child being a big one.
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  In the early years of adulthood, we're all trying to figure out who we are,
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  Navigating career paths And figuring out how to build deep relationships We
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  juggle work, family, and social obligations To adjust to our changing lives,
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  In midlife, it's common to become less concerned About what others think And
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  to move away from people-pleasing This can change our priorities And may shift friendships.
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  We don't just grow up We grow as people And we grow in our faith We may become
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  more generous or sacrificial Or more willing to listen to different ideas is.
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  The reality is, people change all the time. Much of it is slow,
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  but sometimes it is, or at least seems, sudden.
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  For a marriage to be good, this growth must be shared in real time and processed.
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  It will sometimes mean making little adjustments, and other times,
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  it could mean making very big adjustments.
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  It might also call for sacrifice or for rethinking priorities.
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  The freedom to grow and change means our spouse feels no need to hide how they are changing.
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  It allows us to adapt, or, if
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  necessary, to ask questions or even lovingly challenge what is happening.
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  Lori and I have dealt with couples who have grown so far apart that they no
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  longer had a marriage, and neither felt willing or even able to bridge the gap.
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  Sometimes one spouse being spectacularly unaware was a factor,
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  but usually a spouse undergoing significant change said nothing until the change was complete.
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  This is usually because they didn't feel the freedom to be different.
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  Giving the freedom to grow and change will keep you close. This is Paul,
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  and doing marriage well means embracing changed.