Someone said, ‘Getting married is like buying something you have admired for ages in a shop window. You love it – but when you get it home, it doesn’t always go with everything!’ The Bible gives us three words that are essential to building a happy marriage: ‘Live in…harmony’ (Romans 15:5 NLT). That means doing these three things: 1) Keep an open mind. The Bible says, ‘Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.’ So don’t form your response while your husband or wife is still talking. And never become so entrenched in your position that you’re unwilling to consider your spouse’s viewpoint. Listening is about connecting and acknowledging where the other person is coming from. ‘Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests…take an interest in others’ (Philippians 2:3-4 NLT). 2) Learn to laugh at yourself. ‘A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day’ (Proverbs 15:13 MSG). When you’re experiencing money woes, family problems, illness, or plain old exhaustion, humour can ease the tension and help restore your perspective. 3) Eliminate the ‘D’ word from your vocabulary. Although God permits divorce under certain circumstances, it’s never His ideal. Like one couple who worked through their marriage troubles said, ‘We’re glad we didn’t give up during the difficult years. We hung in long enough to realise that it really can get better with time.’ When you commit to work on your relationship, no matter how things ultimately end up, you will never regret your efforts.
