I have a client I have seen off and on since he was divorced a few years ago. Today he came in and told me about his new marriage. He likes word pictures and speaks in metaphors; I suggested marriage is like tending a lawn. His new marriage is a fresh start like moving into a new home where the lawn as just been rolled out: no weeds and perfectly green.
“I learned from my first marriage I need to pull the weeds as soon as they appear. I can’t wait until the yard is full of weeds.” That would certainly be better than letting the health of the lawn deteriorate. But wouldn’t applying some pre-emergent weed killer be even better?
And who wants a boring, barren yard? Maybe the two of them ought to think about landscaping: flowers, terraces, decks, the whole nine yards.
I’m glad he’s thinking about approaching his new marriage differently. I hope he thinks beyond crisis management and starts planning for enriching his marriage.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
I appreciate the hortiricultural arc of the last two posts. In your next entry, please let us know if now is the proper time of the year for planting annuals or semiannuals.
All kidding aside, I think you make an important distinction between crisis management and problem prevention of addressing conflict. This distinction applies to many different areas of life. I wrestle with this distinction in church and vocational leadership contexts as well as in marriage.
Good thoughts.
Taran,
I’m convinced one problem with many organizations is they never move beyond crisis management. I understand the reasoning: it’s nice to relax in between crisis. It’s hard to keep people motivated to do the work of prevention.