Your Talents and Patience - a Good Marriage

Lindsey Rietzsch

Back in 2005 I was asked to put together a class called, “How to Date Your Spouse” for my ward Relief Society (women in my church). At first I wondered, why me? My husband and I don't date that often and we are not experts. I was then told that I was selected because of my creative abilities and ideas. It was then I realized this could be a good thing for me. I could put together something that worked and experiment on my own husband. Soon I was excited and began the task of researching information and ideas.

After I taught the class, several women came and thanked me and expressed their interest in the subject. Though the class was over I continued researching the topic and collecting my ideas. Eventually I had enough material to put it into a book -so that’s what I did.

At first I decided to keep this book quiet from my friends and family so that if it never was published they would never know. At the time there was nothing like it on the market so I figured my chances were pretty good. After being turned down 25 times from various local and national publishers I was ready to give up. Soon, I was running out of options and thought that maybe my book was just not meant to be. Maybe I was supposed to be doing something else with my time and talents. After running into a dead end I began to work on other ideas and started up a small business.

How to Date Your Spouse on the shelf at Deseret Book

Not more than a month after doing so I was contacted by a publisher interested in my book. I couldn’t believe it! I thought those days were over. How wrong I was. It’s amazing what a confidence booster can do. Since signing that first publishing contract I realized how important my writing abilities are and how much good I can do in the world with my talent. Since this experience I began writing other books and embarking on new projects. 

Let this be a lesson to anyone reading that we should never take our talents for granted. We have been given them for a reason and it is our responsibility to find out why. It may take a few years before we see the big picture but if we give up on them and let other people tell us we have no talent then we lose our talents and miss out on some great life experiences.

A month ago I walked into Deseret Book store and to my surprise, my daughter and I both spotted a couple of copies of How to Date Your Spouse on the shelf. After all these years I truly thought it was now just on special order. The section for Relationships/Family was rather narrow and to see my book still on that shelf was priceless!

To this day my first book is still my best selling book. Though many have tried to replicate it, it still holds it's place well in the market. So, remember that you never know what a "good idea" can turn into with a little patience and faith. Good luck with your talents and embrace them daily!