Looking at the couple in this picture proudly holding their marriage license makes me very happy! They have been holding on and working on their marriage for a few years now and those smiles are evidence of what hard work in a relationships look like! Congrats Antoinette and Darius!
Building and maintaining a marriage is a lot like starting a fire; you’ve got to continuously feed it to keep it aflame. You’ve got to tend to it, add some kindling and the more time and energy you invest in it will determine how bright the flames will shine.
Happy marriages are based upon deep friendship, mutual respect and enjoyment of each other’s company. Friendship doesn’t prevent arguments, but the friendship acts as a secret weapon to keep small disagreements from getting out of hand.
Relationships work best when the people in them deliberately take the time to improvement them. The key is not so much quality time. It’s the quality that you put in the time.
Biblically, we are taught that marriage is supposed to last forever, but in some cases ‘forever’ seems more like a chore than something that will sustain happiness. And, if, once married, 2 are supposed to remain as 1 than what can we do when the spark in the marriage is running a little low.
Let me share a little story with you: I have an uncle that never seems to follow directions when it comes to doing things like putting a bookshelf together let alone the steps that needs to be taken for caution while building a fire. He almost ALWAYS threw out the directing that came in the box and created his own.
One winter, it was extremely cold and the water heater was on the brink, so he decided to crank up the old fire place at grandma and papas house. He went out back, found some wood, brought it in the house and began to try to start the fire.
Soon as my grandma Lola noticed what he was doing, she said, “Emery, that wood is damp…that will not start a fire! We’ll just have to3162425247_3283fb2599 be cold tonight…don’t do it!”
Emery replies, “Momma, I know what I’m doin…watch me get this started!” Grandma Lola just shook her head and went back to her room to covered up, cause she knew better then to try and light wet wood. Of course, to us grandkids, this was like watching a live stage play to see what would come of this, so we all nestled with covers on the couched to see just how he’d go about lighting a fire to wet wood.
He took a swig of his beer wrapped snuggly in a brown paper bag and then wrapped newspaper all around the wood that he’d brought in so that perhaps that would get the wood to a spark at least. That worked for all of 3.5 seconds, so then he balled up more newspaper and shoved it in. He even threw some wooden toothpicks in there if I remember right. And then after that, he ran into the kitchen, looked under the sink cabinet and pulled out an old can of lighter fluid.
When we saw that; us grand-kids ran to get grandma, because we were sure he was gonna burn the house down! Before I knew it, he had drenched that fire log with lighter fluid and for a small moment the fire lit up the entire room. The house did not burn down and even though the fumes from the lighter fluid were pretty strong, to our surprise that unorthodox fire burned for at least an hour before it went out. Uncle doesn’t remember the story, but us grands do and we pretty much laugh about that day often.
The moral of the story is that sometimes in marriage you’ve got to do something out of the ordinary to make and see change. Step out on a limb, do something new and get out of the routine of things! Never do anything unsafe and silly like my uncle did, but do whatever you have to do to keep that fire burning in your relationship!!! Learning to Protect Your Marriage is available on kindle and paperback
Tricky Ways to Keep the Fire Burning in Your Marriage
Hold hands Use candles in the room at night Have a date night Leave love notes Be spontaneous not only s*xually, but in your everyday lifethemehotels Take a vacation Surprise your spouse with something just for them Keep flirting alive Change up your bedroom Say Good Morning and I love you more Text compliments and nasty things to each other Make Love more Kiss more Play card or bored games Pray together Inspire each other Meet each other for a sleep over in a nice but inexpensive hotel
