Marriage is one of God’s sweetest gifts to humanity, but if your marriage is unhealthy today it can seem more like a curse than a blessing. Healthy marriages are built over time on a foundation of God’s word and mutual trust. However, just because it takes a long time to build a healthy marriage, doesn’t mean you have to wait a long time to start improving your marriage.
Whether you have a great marriage or a struggling marriage, you can start today making it better. Here are five practical steps you can take today to begin making your marriage healthier and happier.
- Pray for your spouse. Pray for his or her fulfillment and joy. Pray for their spiritual walk or their salvation. Pray for their health and happiness. If your marriage is in turmoil, pray for God to heal both of your hearts and begin the path toward restoration. Ideally, you should be able to pray with your spouse, but even if you can’t pray together today, you can pray for each other. Don’t wait. Stop reading and pray right now.
- Compliment your spouse. Does your wife know that she looked pretty when she walked out the door this morning? Did you thank your husband for taking out the trash? Someone is going to compliment your spouse today, make sure that you are at the top of the list of giving compliments.
- Practice meaningful touch. A hug, a hand on the shoulder a flirty tap on the bottom? Maybe your wife likes you to play with her hair or rub her feet? Not all touches need to or should be sexual, but they should be filled with meaning. Putting your hands on your spouse should be one of the ways that you communicate safety and security.
- Give a gift. Gifts don’t have to be expensive, but an unexpected show of affection and appreciation can go a long way toward making your marriage healthier. Buy her flowers at the grocery store on the way home or make her a card. Cook his favorite meal or bake cookies. You can go buy him a new gun (Angela, I’m thinking of you here) or order her new shoes, but your gifts don’t have to be elaborate. Even the smallest gifts can often communicate a message far greater than their financial investment.
- Go for a walk. When you get out of the house and go for a walk, you have to leave behind many of the distractions of home. Laundry has to wait, the phone has to wait, the kids have to wait, and you can focus on listening to each other. You also get the benefit of increased heart rate and endorphins which can improve your mood collectively and make your evenings more enjoyable.
Not everything you will do to improve your marriage is a spiritual exercise, but a healthy marriage is a testimony to of God’s work in your life.
Is your marriage struggling? Start to make it better today.
Is your marriage healthy? Don’t wait until something is wrong to start working on your marriage. Take steps to strengthen it right now.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32).
