13 Things To Stop Doing To Your Marriage

Here are 13 things to stop that can be the start of something fantastic for your marriage.

13 Things to Stop

I’ve been doing marriage counselling for 43 years – just one year less than the number of years my wife has been reminding me that I am a lucky man.

1. STOP talking to improve your communication. Start listening. Your mother told you that God gave you one mouth and two ears for a purpose. Use your ears…and your heart to hear each other.

2. STOP bringing the worst out in your spouse – that’s too easy. Its a husband’s responsibility to bring the best out in his wife. Husbands accomplish that by helping their wives get what they want, as long as it is not illegal, immoral or inordinately expensive. Wives bring out the best in their husband by treating them like a hero, even if sometimes they act like a zero.

3. STOP seeing marriage as a science. I like math. Math is predictable. One plus one will always be two. In marriage, one plus one always equals one. Marriage doesn’t add up. The only scientists in marriage are mad ones – angry ‘cause they can’t make their theories work.

4. STOP digging when you’re in a hole. I’ve done my fair share of digging. Once you’re in the hole, any defensive explanations or excuses only take you deeper. (If you don’t know what the hole is, you must not be married.)

5. STOP trying to achieve the ideal marriage. This is a recipe for an ordeal. Get real, there is no ideal.

6. STOP looking for magic in your marriage. Marriage takes hard work. Two becoming one is hard work, especially when, “Which one,” becomes the question. “Which one will make the decisions” and “which one is the head is the house,” and “which one controls the TV remote.”

7. STOP focusing on sex. (Just kidding) A wife’s greatest need is to be cherished. Cherishing is not sexual in nature. That puts men at a disadvantage. Cherishing is about affection without seduction. Its about leadership, compassion, security and understanding.

8. STOP insisting on being understood. If you seek to understand, you’ll have a better shot at being understood.

9. STOP seeing love as an emotion. Love is an action. You will act your way into love far faster than you can feel your way into love.

10. STOP complicating your marriage. The operational principles for a happy marriage are simple:

I. Husbands, cherish your wife.
II. Wives, honor your husband.

11. STOP waiting for the other to go first.

Husbands, don’t wait to feel honored to cherish your wife. Wives, don’t wait to feel cherished so you can honor your husband. Go first.

12. STOP limiting your marriage by keeping it to just the two of you. God is the third party that will make a marriage flourish. Marriage is sacred – its holy matrimony. Invite God to your wedding and He’ll stick around for your marriage.

13. STOP viewing marriage as a your thing. Marriage is God’s thing and God likes simple.

“Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her.” (Ephesians 5:25-28, The Message)

“Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ…each wife is to honor her husband.” (Ephesians 5:22, 33, the Message)

Which one do you need to stop doing so you start something great? Please leave a comment below.

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