Hello Crafty readers! Charlene from Bisons to Buckeyes, my October sponsor, is taking over the blog today and is sharing her thoughts on how to improve your marriage right now! You can head over to her blog and check out my thoughts on how to make your husband a priority after having kids.
Marriage is tough. I’m certainly not here to tell you otherwise. It takes work. But what I’ve seen in our society today is that people give up too easily. Some people go into marriage with the attitude that they can just get out at the first sign of trouble.
But to that I say, no! Fight for your marriage! Honor your vows! All it takes is a little prioritization, work, and commitment. And the reward is so worth it!
Here is some marriage advice and five things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your marriage!
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ONE || Never stop dating your spouse.
I’m sure you’ve heard this piece of advice before, but it’s so true. Spending that quality time and conversation together with no distractions is so important. You need to show your spouse that you value him enough to put everything away and focus all your attention on him. And then you can connect on a much deeper level.
So what can you do right now? Plan an intentional date night for this weekend and write it in your planner with a pen (not pencil). Then get a babysitter, leave your phones in the car, and follow through on your plan! You’ll thank me later.
TWO || Communicate with your spouse
Again, I’m sure you’ve heard this one before too (in fact, I recently wrote a
post about it on my blog) but it’s so important. You and your spouse are two different people, with different expectations, different backgrounds, and who react to things differently. You have to communicate your wants, desires, and expectations to each other. You are not mind readers.
So what can you do right now? Stop what you’re doing and tell your spouse something he could do to be a better husband and ask what you could do in return. But here’s the catch: don’t get angry or defensive. Take what your spouse says as constructive criticism and commit to improving yourself.
THREE || Never stop studying your spouse
A lot of people told me and my husband this before we got married and it’s such good advice. You do NOT (nor will you ever) know everything there is to know about your spouse. There’s just too much to learn. Also, people change. So you should always be learning about things he likes or doesn’t like or how he best receives and and shows love or even what happened to him at work today and how he reacted.
So what can you do right now? Sit down with your spouse and take the
5 Love Languages quiz. Once you each get your results, have them sent to each other’s email addresses so you’ll always have them and then start brainstorming how you can love each other in your native love languages. You might be surprised to learn that you speak opposite languages and maybe that’s why you haven’t been connecting much lately.
FOUR || Complement and encourage your spouse every day
We all feel good when we get complements, right? And we respond better to positive reinforcement rather than nagging and negativity. The same goes for your spouse! I get it. It’s hard to remember to be encouraging when everything seems to be going wrong. And it’s hard to remember to complement someone you see every day just because it seems sort of pointless or redundant. But be intentional about using your words to let your spouse know how much he means to you!
So what can you do right now? Tell your spouse “Thank you for choosing me,” whether you turn to him right now and say it out loud, or send a text for him to get at work. Then, start a list on your phone (or paper if you prefer old-school) of attributes you appreciate in your spouse and make a point to inform him of one each day this week.
FIVE || Pray for your spouse every day
Prayer is one of our most powerful weapons. I truly believe in the power of prayer in the offensive but also in the defensive position of every day life. Basically this means I pray when things aren’t going well, but I also pray for protection and guidance when things are great! Your marriage is certainly something that should be covered in prayer daily because there is so much evil out there just waiting to destroy your sacred union with your spouse.
So what can you do right now? Subscribe to
Today’s Marriage Prayer and get a new prayer for your marriage in your inbox every morning! They’re praying through the book of Proverbs this month and it’s been so uplifting to me. The prayers get me started on my own prayer for my marriage and I love starting my day on that note.
So there you have it. 5 things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your marriage.
Do these 5 things today and you’ll start to see a change immediately. Especially if you take your spouse off guard. I’m sure he’ll be pleasantly surprised. I’d love to hear how these tips work out for you! Let me know in the comments if you try them!
The other day I realized I didn’t know what my husband dream vacation was, so I asked him! And that opened up one of the most fun conversations we’ve ever had. There is still so much I don’t know about him and I agree that it’s really important to keep asking questions~!
Oh how fun, Brooklyn! I don’t think I know my husband’s dream vacation either. Though I think I have an idea of where he would want to go… I’ll have to ask too!