World Marriage Day -- Why I Love My Spouse

Holy Mother Church celebrates World Marriage Day each year on the second Sunday in February. Worldwide Marriage Encounter, which sponsors the day, offers many ideas for churches, groups, and couples. As we gear up to celebrate World Marriage Day this coming Sunday, I thought it might be nice to issue a simple challenge to us married folks. Are you up for it? Well keep reading to learn more!

A well-known research study from Dr. John Gottman at the University of Washington found it takes at least five positive interactions to make up for just one negative interaction. In other words, a negative ‘tude is five times more powerful than a positive one. Talk about negative bias at work!

Think about it, though. How often do we dwell on negative comments, stories, and events? I do all too often, more than I care to admit, but I’m not alone. Psychology tells us that we are wired to do so, that the brain tends to remember negative things more strongly and in more detail. How’s that for a good reminder of the necessity of actively engaging in more acts of kindness with one another?

This is why I love a blog series called “Why I Love My Husband” hosted at the blog More Like Mary – More Like Me. Kaitlin Alfermann, the feminine genius behind the blog, explains:

I started a series called “Why I Love My Husband” on my own blog and was so encouraged by the number of women who wanted to follow suit.

I’m so saddened when women complain about their husbands. It’s one thing to have an actual problem in your marriage and seek the advice, counsel, and support of a good friend. It’s another thing completely to trash the man you chose to marry and spend the rest of your life with. It’s not acceptable. We need to be building up our husbands with everything we have within us, not cutting them down with hurtful comments to other women. Yes, they have faults. But we don’t need to expose those faults to others. We don’t need to go on and on about them.

If you’d like to reject a culture that says it’s acceptable to tear down your husband, join me with this blog series!

So over-the-top enthusiastic about Kaitlin’s idea, I immediately joined the “Why I Love My Husband” blogging parade and now run a similar series at my personal blog. And oh how it warms my heart to see Joel’s face light up when he reads the blogposts dedicated to him.

So are you up for this challenge? Will you join me? Here it is:

Compliment your spouse liberally. It makes him/her a better person.

Now you don’t need to run a blog in order to join the challenge. In fact, it’s far better to share these compliments with our spouses in the flesh --- face-to-face and maybe even while holding hands!

Discussion starter: Why do you love your spouse? How do you show love for him or her? Please chime in below; I’m looking forward to learning from you!

For more great ideas on becoming a holy wife or husband, check out these great Holy Husband and Holy Wife prayer cards from our friends at Aquinas & More.

Ten Rules for a Happy and Successful Husband

Ten Rules for a Happy and Successful Wife

Image Credit