A Husband’s Offer to Abstain
The word ‘abstinence’ can evoke mixed feelings. Teetotalers breaking bottles of booze; young lovers straining to wait until marriage; observers of Lent giving up desirable foods; addicts making a stand against their addictions.
Abstinence means refraining from certain activities or objects, to achieve certain positive things and/or to avoid negative effects.
Spousal abstinence from the marital act, while less often considered among the various ‘abstinences,’ can be especially fruitful.
Choosing to forego one expression of love precisely as an expression of love: what can seem counterintuitive can be one of the great lessons, and ultimately gifts, of marriage.