Yesterday we looked at how encouraging our loved one, and comforting him, could help us re-kindle those dreams of love that may have weakened.
Today we'll look at three more concepts that may help us . . .
Here is our verse again:
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,Next on our list is "sharing in the Spirit" or . . . fellowship. You know, spending time with each other!
I'm sure that we know how to enjoy our hubby's (or date's) company; the important thing is finding time for each other. Spending time with one another.
We need to let each other know that we are a-v-a-i-l-a-b-l-e. That there is nothing more important to us than "being there" for that person. If our significant other wants to be silly, to be solemn, to make a memory, to share a laugh, to cry, to share a secret --- we must be there for them! Yes, I know that there are lots of things that will steal away our time. And many of them are very worthy, and very important. I have a list a mile long, too, just like you do. But our loved one needs to be number one on that list . . . not number fourteen!
Please look back at the last phrase in our verse, for our next piece of kindling: Be tender and compassionate to one another. Those dreams of love, those banked embers of passion can be ignited by tenderness and compassion. How to show tenderness and compassion in this busy world that we live in? Well, how about cooking his favorite meal, and serving it with love? If he is pooped after work, why not tell him that you'll bring it to him in his recliner? (Grin) Of course, we are optimistic here that the hubby being pampered will respond gratefully, and not critique the meal too much....that is the compassion part, too!
It's the little kindnesses that we show on the outside that reveal the tenderness and compassion on the inside. It used to be so easy to show that we care --- we need to channel our inner teenager here, and go back to when we used to dream up creative ways to show that we cared! I know that there are many other things that we can do, other than cooking that meal we mentioned -- we just need to put on our thinking caps and come up with a plan!
What if he does offer a little constructive criticism? Ahh, that is our last concept here, and it may be the most difficult one, for we are human, ya know!
Philippians 2:2We also need to make certain that we have a right attitude. See? I told you this one would be the most difficult one . . . being able to accept criticism, to handle irritability, to smooth ruffled feathers, and to still show that tenderness that is so necessary --- whew! Tall order, no?
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
Every day when we roll out of bed, we make a decision. We decide whether to build up or to tear down that sweet relationship called our marriage. We can enrich it, by "making deposits" and showing our love, or we can deplete it by "making withdrawals" and not showing our love.
Let's make this Valentine's Day a special one --- let's decide to encourage, to comfort, to spend time, to be tender, and to have a right attitude . . . I bet our dreams of love will come true!
I'm running behind on the study. :/
ReplyDeleteI think this all boils down to, "It's not about me!" Putting self aside to treat your spouse better than you treat yourself. We are basically selfish creatures and so this is really hard. I believe though, that if we can do what you've suggested, keep doing it even if we don't see any change in his/her attitude, we can be still be blessed by the doing of it. And we are always blessed to obeying God's word!