Even people with good marriages want to have a better marriage.
What can we do to make marriage better?
First, be “all in” with your marriage and family. Not long ago I read about a coach for a rowing team. The advice he gave for his rowers was that they “be in the boat.” In other words, to focus on what they were doing as they rowed.
That’s good advice for a marriage. Every marriage needs attention and focus. When you are at home, make sure you are “at home.”
Of course, we all have things that take us away from the family, but when we have time we need to give our best to be all in.
Second, make sure you listen as well as hear. Hearing implies the complicated process of soundwaves entering the ear, vibrating those delicate little bones, and then registering on the brain.
Listening, on the other hand, requires a totally different skill set. It means hearing with the purpose of understanding and thinking through what is being heard.
When I counsel couples getting married, I emphasize communication more than anything. Communication means you listen and seek to understand. Having understood, you respond in the appropriate way.
Listening and communicating are vital to a marriage.
Third, live with consideration for the other people in the family. Paul told fathers not to exasperate their children. That’s good advice for every member of the family. When we consider the needs of other people, we will make our marriages better.
It’s simply hard to keep people away from a place where they are loved, appreciated, and treated with kindness. Jesus counseled us to do onto others as you want them to do to you. That’s the kind of advice that even non-believers appreciate.
You have the opportunity to make a difference in your marriage. Do these things and you will make it better than it has been before.
May God bless you as you seek to live for God in your marriage.
You can receive a devotional each day by email by subscribing to my blog at www.waylonbailey.com. It’s my free ministry across the Internet. I hope you will sign up.