Protect yourself against the elements, not your spouse

Happy Spring, everyone! The sun is creeping out and warmer weather looks like it’s here to stay, bringing spring into full swing. Spring also comes with that famous saying “April showers bring May flowers” (not a personal favorite one of mine…with an April birthday I wish it wasn’t associated with rain!). But now is the time to dig out those umbrellas to protect you from the elements!

Being NFPers, we at CCL always have it on the brain. So we thought we’d take this opportunity to talk about “protection” in regards to sex. As a society it seems to be burned into our brains to use protection and practice “safe sex” since we have become accustomed to the culture of casual sex. Interestingly enough, the phrase “safe sex” was used by some in the 1960s when referring to certain types of dancing, which they deemed as “safe sex” for the teenagers. My! What a far way we’ve come, since now it’s almost universally known as the use of condoms to protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

We absolutely should protect ourselves against things that may harm us like dangerous chemicals, artificial hormones and deadly side effects to your body and your marriage. But should our family planning choice make us feel as if we need protection against our spouse, or the possibility of a new life?

God never intended that sex with our spouse is something we have to “gear up” for because that just creates barriers between each other. Rather, God wants us to have marital intimacy that is a total gift of self, with no need of protection from the person you love. Here is a great first person account of a woman describing her experience of switching from condoms to natural family planning. Like many NFPers say, it takes some time and a little faith to get the hang of, but once they get it they never go back.

So think about letting Spring motivate you to protect yourself against the elements, not your spouse. Get rid of the unnatural “protection” of barriers and try natural family planning — it’s safe, healthy, effective, and allows a couple to truly give their all to each other.

— Megan Imwalle
Communications Intern