TreyM

I believe with all my heart that God wants us to have a happy marriage. I've listed "21 Tips for a Happy Marriage" on my blog today. Here are the first 12 ...

1. Know how to make your spouse laugh

2. Communicate to your spouse what romantic is to you

3. Look into your spouse's eyes while listening

4. Give at least one compliment a day

5. Make every anniversary a special celebration

6. Be willing and able to say "I'm sorry"

7. Never get to old to hold hands

8. Know the importance of courtship after marriage

9. Unexpected gifts can bring great pleasure

10. Communicate, don't demand, your sexual needs

11. Know how to appreciate and accept the differences in your spouse

12. Know how to agree more and argue less

I've left the rest on my blog if you want to take a look. And make sure you tell me if I'm missed any ...

Blessings ... Trey

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My Blog: www.treymorgan.net

Jeff

Yes, in addition to it. Engage in a family prayer regularly.

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there is nothing too hard for God
Jermiah 32:27

Boanerges

All excellent suggestions- I try to romance my wife every day the same way I did when we first went out- it is a great investment after 27 years of marriage I am still on my honeymoon !

elijah

oh and me and my wife have a little saying......she's always right.....and if she's wrong refer back to the first rule.....lol

No...but seriously if you treat her like a lady....and make her the queen....she'll consider herself....the luckiest woman on the planet, and remember....its the little things that count.

If mama's happy....everybody is happy....

Pastor Gary

Evidently a neighbor of ours isn't doing something correctly...

We were chatting the other day near our Rectory fence line and he told me that he and his wife had a wedding anniversary coming up soon. He said, "You know...I've been happily married for 24 years... 24 out of 31 ain't so bad, is it?"

He winked and we both had a laugh about his joking around...

But in all seriousness, a marriage can be a wonderful life long commitment filled with happiness, joy, love and sharing. But for some, it can be filled with distrust, anger, physical and mental abuse and can end in court or in a worse case scenario - in a morgue.

A marriage is only as good as the committments, sacrifices and efforts that are put into it. Working together as a team, with mutual understanding, values and goals, is one key to a good solid marriage. Unfortunately, in this age of permissiveness, materialism and a lack of Christian Values in so many households, the incidence of divorce because of a disregard for God's Commandments is ever-increasing. Parents are so busy with their own lives in 'keeping up their image in society' that they do not have time to raise their children or to instill Christian Values in them. There are also many single parent households these days because of divorce or a total lack of committment from a 'father' who just takes off. The kids are left to fend for themselves and the young adults that they become are mirror images of their parents - lacking the skills that it takes to make a marriage work and to teach their own offspring properly.

Yes, it takes teamwork to make a successful marriage... and that teamwork includes God and Jesus Christ as the team leaders...

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Pastor Gary

Administrative Pastor and
Certified Chaplain Responder -
Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

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adoptivemommy

Here's something my husband and I live by: We are not eachother's correctors (if that's a word...). In other words before we even got married, when we were still just getting to know eachother, we both made a decision that it was not our place to correct and try to chance eachother. If we have something we are not happy with, we take it to the Lord and we always try to remember that we are human and we are bound to make mistakes. This decision has not only caused both of us to be more willing to admit when we are wrong, but also it made us want even more to be good to the other. This does not mean that we don't deal with issues or that we sweep things under the rug. That kind of stuff is just as damaging as nagging is. We just try to the best of our ability to focus on eachother's positive qualities and be greatful for the things we love about eachother rather than always focus on the negative. Of course that's a good habit for life in general.

Laura

twistedLinen

^
but sometimes we needed somebody to tell us we did wrong.. God use people to shape us to be the man and woman he wanted us to be.

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it is better to be loving than to be right

Bassmasa

For me, it's just listening to my wife. NOT offering suggestions, but just listening to how her day went and how it made her feel. As a man, I have never started a conversation about how I felt about anything, but it's very important to her. My initial reaction is always, "Well, you should do such and such to fix it." Whoa boy, that's the worst thing. I just listen with interest, reinforce her feelings, and give her a hug, giving advice ONLY if asked.

Oh, and humor is absolutely essential....gotta have it.

Boanerges

TreyM I wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed this message and I plan on sitting down tonight with my wife and reading it togeather- thanks Larry