One Significant Marriage Goal

Every Wednesday I will post a practical wisdom thought or suggestion on marriage, parenting, or life. One significant marriage goal is to overcome complacency!  Complacency can be defined as taking your spouse and/or your marriage for granted.  The disease of complacency is a major reason for a troubled, unhappy relationship, and sadly one frequent cause for divorce.

For most of us, when we were dating our marriage partners, we made frequent uplifting comments and did many kind actions in order to win our future spouse’s heart.  Unfortunately for many relationships, after the second year of marriage such considerate words and behaviors diminish with each passing year.

Ask yourself two key questions:  “When was the last time I either complimented or made a very encouraging comment to my spouse?”  And “When was the last time I demonstrated a nice, thoughtful action toward my spouse?”  One essential way for us to overcome complacency is to continue being a boyfriend or girlfriend to our spouses.  Such an attitude will cause us to work really hard at valuing our partners.

TODAY:  And every day, be like a boyfriend/girlfriend to your spouse by making caring comments as well as exhibiting meaningful actions.  

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Marriage Expectations

In the middle of each week, I will post a practical wisdom thought or suggestion on marriage, parenting, or life. Your spouse cannot read your mind!  Yet, when you feel disappointed in your marriage, the reason is often due to a “mind-reading” expectation.  At times, we all can have the “false belief” that our spouse should meet our expectation without us even making our request known, and that harms our relationship.

Remember to always question yourself when you are disappointed in your spouse, “Did I make my expectation known?”  You and I will frequently find that our hurt is due to our own mistake of not requesting our expectation.  In addition, most often it is healthiest to ASK for your expectation rather than even use a polite statement to prevent your spouse from feeling a demand by you.

TODAY:  Identify one expectation you have for your spouse and enhance your relationship by ASKING your spouse for that expectation. 

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Marriage Requires Daily Effort

In the middle of each week, I will post a practical wisdom thought or suggestion on marriage, parenting, or life. Every successful endeavor in life requires tremendous effort!  And a happy marriage is no different, also requiring hard work!   But that work is a privilege, NOT an obligation.  Definitely, such effort is a privilege because you have the opportunity to love and value your spouse.

Daily, your marriage is getting better or it is getting worse but your relationship never stays the same.  So work very hard to improve yourself as a spouse, and work equally as hard at valuing your spouse in order to improve your marital satisfaction!

“Christ came to serve, not be served.”  Likewise, work hard at serving your spouse.  And both of you must work hard at serving one another, otherwise, your relationship will be imbalanced and unhappy.  Your mutual determined efforts will bear fruit for marital happiness.

TODAY:  What one behavior can you demonstrate that shows your spouse you are willing to work hard at creating a gratifying relationship?

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