Timing is everything

I recently blogged about how marriage has made me more open, especially with other women. Marriage has changed me in more then that way, although I don't have time to go into everything! One thing I think is funny that has changed is my view of what is an 'acceptable' amount of time to date before engagement and marriage. I felt more time meant less struggle later on in marriage. Before I started dating my husband that time frame was 4 years. I really did not see myself getting to know someone well enough in less then that time. Once I started dating that time frame shrunk by about half. Ok, so now we're looking at two years dating and engagement. Now I was shorten it even still. Now I don't have a specific time line in mind, but I think it can be really good to be short. Here are my reasons, first of all it doesn't make marriage any easier. You'll have the same amount of struggles whether you know each other for six years or six months. It's just hard to live with someone else. Secondly, the longer you date the higher the temptation is. I think as long as you have some basic principles in mind then it's probably ok. Principles like serving Christ, divorce not being an option and willingness to communicate. I believe based on these any marriage can have great success.