The B.E.S.T. Marriage: Why Settle for Less?

By Anthony Delaney

If you’re imperfect… and your spouse is imperfect… then is a healthy, vibrant marriage possible?

As any couple can attest, maintaining a marriage is always easier said than done. But no matter where you and your spouse have been—and no matter where you need to be—there are practical steps you can take to take your marriage from better to B.E.S.T.

The B.E.S.T. Marriage is a lively, humorous guide to making a marriage work. Whether you’re considering marriage (or remarriage), you’re happily married, or you’re currently struggling in a relationship, discover how your life and love can improve with Blessing, Encouraging, Sharing, and Touching. Marriage isn’t easy—but it doesn’t have to be impossible. Get hard-hitting advice and enjoy the journey toward developing the marriage you want.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Release date: Apr 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9780802499059

Anthony Delaney

ANTHONY DELANEY grew up in California. He ran a bank there for six years, lived and worked in the Middle East for eighteen years and retired to the South of France where he lived for three more years. His return to the United States impressed upon him the need to find a focal point for his energies. He tried painting but was disappointed with his efforts. In 2009 he took a job with the Navy Museum in Washington DC where he wrote contracts for their operations. Although he loved his work and the museum, he felt that after two years it was time to move on. Now he lives in the Deep South and has a new point of interest. Always a lover of books, he has decided to learn the self-publishing business. To that end he wrote “The Nonsense Rhymes of A. Bootrus Walley” and "Valvazor and the Glass Mountain." He is working on another A. Bootrus Walley book, a collection of short stories and the thing closest to his heart, a murder mystery set in Champagne and Bordeaux, France.

Book preview

—ANTHONY

INTRODUCTION

AIMING FOR THE BEST

Ithink that’s a dead body!" My wife, Zoë, stops paddling the kayak as she points toward some rocks ahead of us where waves are crashing through.

I’m behind her so I can’t see too well, but my former police officer observation skills detect that, at first glance, it is big enough and the shape resembles a corpse. Thankfully upon closer inspection, I shake my head. No, I’m pretty sure it’s a seal.

Eek! she says excitedly, nervous about possibly scaring it away. Let’s not get too close! We carefully draw closer.

It’s got two heads! she says.

No, they’re mating.

I love this.

"I love you."

I love you too.

After more than thirty years of marriage, my wife and I are finally in the same boat.

Our kayak arrived a few weeks ago and had to be carried down the cellar steps by three big men who were all huffing and puffing because it was so heavy. In the last year, we have taken lessons as individuals and gone from complete novices to pros at moving in a somewhat straight line forward or backward. Now the big test: Could we kayak as a couple?

I had my doubts. I can give up easily if a project goes from fun to tough. When I saw those three men sweating, I immediately said we would have to send the two-person kayak we’d bought back to the store. How could the two of us ever lift it on the roof of the car?

A few days later, Zoë pulled it back out of the cellar by herself and set it up, ready for its maiden voyage. After all these years, I should have known how determined and strong the woman I married is.

Yesterday, after some hard work together, we found ourselves sitting in awe at God’s breathtaking creation just off Anglesey, an island off the northwest coast of Wales, where we found that bob of seals.

So many places we never would have gotten to in life, so many adventures I would have missed out on, had I not met her. In the car as we drove back from our adventure, that old Gladys Knight number came on the radio, You’re the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me, and we both smiled at each other because we’ve both picked it as one of the songs we’d want played at our funeral, although neither of us remembers who said it first. But it’s true.

The best.

Best works well as an acronym, too, when we think about marriage and how we can build the most important of all our relationships: B.E.S.T.

That’s really what we want for our marriages, isn’t it? Why would anyone settle for less than the best relationship we can have?

It’s possible. And I’m going to show you how. I’ll break down the four letters into words you can remember, so whether you’re getting ready to embark on marriage, you’ve been enjoying it many years, or you’re in stormy marital seas, you’ll always have something practical to work on to make it stronger and better.

Just as I discovered with our two-person kayak, the journey is not always easy or fun. At times, you may wonder how you can even still be together. But sticking with it can put you in a place where you can both sit together in awe and gratitude. I can say this because my wife and I have lived it. If you looked at our marriage on some of our difficult days, weeks, or even months, you might have thought our marriage wasn’t going to last—it certainly wasn’t the best. Apparently, some couples never row. We have had a lot of