36. ~ ENJOY LIFE WITH YOUR WIFE [AND YOUR HUSBAND], WHOM YOU LOVE...”

Benjamin Franklin said, “Those things that hurt, instruct. “If we’re to grow as families, to be as successful there as we are in other areas, we must learn how to cope with difficulties at home. Marriages start because of love, but they continue because of commitment.  Here are some suggestions for trouble-shooting at home: 

Attack the problem, not the person!  You’re all on the same team, so don’t take your frustrations out on your loved ones. 

Get all the facts. Before you offer (or impose) solutions, make sure you really understand the problem. Think before you speak.  Nothing’s more damaging than jumping to conclusions. 

List your options.  When you do, you’ll be less emotional and more objective.  That’s how you’d handle it, if you had a problem at work, so why not do the same for your family? 

Look for the positives.  Scott Peck writes.  “It’s only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually.  It’s through the pain of confronting and resolving them that we learn.  “No matter how bad things seem at the time, every situation holds something positive – so look for it. 

(5) Never withhold your love.  No matter how bad things get, never withhold your love.  It’s ok to tell your family how you feel, so long as you do it graciously.  But make sure they know that you love them unconditionally despite the problems.  Why?  Because when people feel loved and supported, they can weather just about any crisis!

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blesmish, but holy and blamless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  Afterall, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. ~ Ephesians 5:24-31.