what marriage is teaching Me. {vol. 6}

I'm breaking my own rules because the last Thursday of the month (which is normally when I host this link up) is Christmas and I'm not about to upstage baby Jesus so here goes nothing. (The link-up never closes, so join in whenever you feel so moved! Also, there won't be another new post this week because...Christmas - and I'm in Michigan with Anthony's family, soaking up the family time.) The question remains: what is marriage teaching me? Each month the prompt comes around and I ask myself what marriage has taught me the past month. Some months is takes me longer to come up with my answer since it seems to be the same lessons I'm still learning (life, right?). If I had to pick (and I do because that's the blog rule), this past month has taught me more about time management. Before I got married it was easier to devote myself to my job. After all, I didn't have a husband or kids to attend to. At most I had friends and my family (who I lived with), and there were definitely times I took advantage of the fact that those people would be there for me. But marriage is a constant work in progress and requires my time and energy, not just my leftovers. The reality is that my priorities have changed from work taking the primary spot to my marriage taking the primary spot. On a practical level, that means being clearer about my boundaries at work: office hours are office hours and that's that, period. Special events are going to happen, but they shouldn't be as often, nor should they come at the expense of my marriage. It also used to be the case that on ministry nights (aka nights that kids are at work vs. office work days) I had no problem staying until I was the last person in the office. That's had to change since (1) I'm pregnant and get tired faster (who would've thought?!), (2) I live 40+ minutes away from work instead of 10 and (3) I'm married. When I get home at the end of a long day, Anthony understands it has been a long day, and those happen. But that doesn't make it okay to stay longer than I absolutely need to at his expense. Could I leave 30 minutes sooner and have 30 more functional minutes with him when I get home, leaving a little extra work for the next day? Yes, I can - and I should. Marriage is teaching me how to re-manage my time and re-set my priorities so that, even at the end of a long day, I'm not going home a half-dead-pregnant-zombie wife, but I have some energy left to share and catch up with my beloved husband.

What say you, readers? What is marriage teaching you this month/year? Post your thoughts and/or links in the comments!