One way to
maintain God's focus on our relationship with our spouse is to make a list at
the end of the day of everything they did to support us in any way, even those
things which we often take for granted and come to expect; and then, we take
time to let our spouse know what we appreciate about them (Philippians 4:8).
This way
we defeat Satan's efforts to make us focus on the negative aspects that
occurred. None of us is perfect, and we all make mistakes and have our
peculiarities. We all have room for improvement, so we can make forgiveness a
regular part of our daily routine.
Remembering
that their intention is not to cause problems for us, but to communicate their
true feelings with us, as well as to support and to love us, allows us to show
more grace to one another. We can forgive any slights, and look forward to
coming home to our spouse every day.
In our
discussions about our problems, we waste our time by attempting to convince our
spouse that they were at fault and we are the innocent bystander. We accomplish
much more by remembering that we are partners, and we are here to work out a
mutually satisfying solution to any issue.
We can
take ownership for the mistakes we made to cause this situation, and apologize
to one another. If they misunderstood our tone, intent or motives, we can express
regret and articulate our thoughts in another way to help them to understand.
Making a
fresh commitment to our relationship every day gives us the courage to do whatever
it takes to repair any breach in our unity. This enables us to grow more
intimate with each other and to have more compassion for any oversight or
misjudgment on their part.
Prayer:
Father
God, remind us that we are in the midst of a battle of spiritual warfare every
day of our marriage. Satan is always looking for ways to divide us and to
destroy our unity. Help us to draw together as a couple and to present a united
front as we face any disagreements or problems. We can always find an
alternative solution that we both agree on for any issue that arises.
Teach us
how to accept each other as we are, to have patience with each other's
weaknesses, and to encourage one another's strengths. Remind us to discover our
mate's love language, rather than to love them in our own way. This helps our
efforts to grow more intimate with each other and to foster a deeper sense of
friendship and support. We want to walk in Your ways and to follow Your
Spirit's direction each and every day.
Thought
for the Day:
Discovering
our mate's love language, and using that to show our love to them, increases
our ability to improve our marital unity, and to let our spouse know how much
we appreciate and cherish them in our life.
