The following tips about God and marriage are taken from 101 Tips for a Happier Marriage: Simple Ways for Couples to Grow Closer to God and to Each Other, now available from Ave Maria Press. Each of them offers some brief spiritual marriage advice for couples to consider on their journey’s through life together.
Read each tip and share it with your fiance or spouse. Talk about how you can live out each tip in your everyday married life or how you may want to try something different to develop a happier marriage.
Marriage Tip #2.
Help your spouse grow by being the first to step outside the comfort zone.
It is easy to be tempted to hold ourselves back from emotional and spiritual growth because we are afraid that our new selves will not be accepted by our spouse. Fear is never a good excuse to refrain from growing closer to God or each other. Make a leap of courage by pushing yourself emotionally and spiritually, and hope that your spouse will be inspired by your actions. Be patient with yourself and your spouse.
Marriage Tip #7.
Remember that only God is God. Let your spouse be human. Give your spouse a break from always being perfectly understanding, always loving, and always there for you.
Ask yourself this: Are you always perfectly understanding, loving, and there for your spouse?
It’s highly unlikely that you are, and if you’re not perfect, then how can you expect your spouse to be? Only God is perfect. Let God be your example and your guide.
Marriage Tip #8.
Accept the fact that you are limited, imperfect, and fallible. You do not have to control everything in the world around you. Realize that you are not God.
Married couples must understand that they are not all-powerful. Stuff happens. You will be tried and tested. Remember to pray. Don’t fall apart. Deal with it the best you can. Then move on.
Marriage Tip #51.
Remove your self-esteem from the argument. You have a choice about how to handle not getting what you want. If your self-esteem depends on always getting your own way or always being right, your self-esteem will always be fragile.
Base your self-worth on the knowledge that you are beloved by God. Don’t let a momentary exchange define who you are and how much you like yourself.
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101 Tips for a Happier Marriage is available at Ave Maria Press, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and various other locations. The book includes tips on a wide variety of marital challenges and helps couples make small changes in their habits, attitudes, and spirituality.
You can find out more about Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse at the Ruth Institute website or connect with Betsy Kerekes at her blog “Parenting Is Funny.”
Betsy Kerekes here, co-author of 101 Tips for a Happier Marriage. I just wanted to say thanks so much for your review! I hope you don’t mind that I reposted it on ruthblog.org. I wanted to suggest that you look into the Ruth Institute. We may have lots in common, and you may be interested in our upcoming conference “Healing the 21st Century Family.” I invite you to check us out at ruthinstitute.org. BTW, my co-author was just named one of nine Catholics of the Year! Thank you again for spreading the word about our book!