The following letters are from the Jan.-Feb. 2010 issue of Family Foundations, the publication of the Couple to Couple League International.

Perhaps the practice of Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a training ground for detachment from one’s spouse! What I mean is learning not to need him/her to satisfy our desire for a comfortable life or to be the culmination or ruination of our happiness.

NFP as a training ground for detachment

This past year my husband has lived in New York state taking care of his Dad under hospice care. What was supposed to be a few months, praise God, turned into one year…

and going. His dad has flourished under his loving and attentive care. And I have gone through four seasons… and going… tending the home fires with all the breakdowns and illnesses, enduring periods of acute loneliness and loss of routine.

Sacrificial practices have become such a part of our lives that this is but one more part of it. A greater good, the care of an ailing parent, is at stake. Though still difficult, how blessed we are to have lived the practice of sacrificial love through NFP that makes this ongoing separation yet another way of living our devotion to one another.

Debra Johnston, Ellington, Conn.

Daily Prayer Keeps Marriage Centered on God

Since we began dating, we have prayed together every day. When we were apart, we would call each other. As a married couple, we unite our days through the morning offering and reflect on them with evening prayer. This daily routine forces us to work out our disagreements before retiring for the night and helps us to keep our relationship centered on God.

Johanna Burke, CCL Teaching Couple, Toledo, Ohio

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Sign up for a membership at Couple to Couple League International and receive “Family Foundations.”

Natural Family Planning Classes Taught

The next series of classes in Natural Family Planning in northeast Illinois will begin Sunday, Aug. 8 at 1:30 pm at Holy Trinity Church in Westmont, taught by Chris & Debbie Lillig 630-428-3046.
To register, and for a list of classes throughout the U.S., go to the CCL Central class locator. Or go to the Chicago CCL’s Classes by Location/Maplinks.