There is no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act
creates a ripple with no logical end (Scott Adams)
Two thousand years ago the Bible outlined a plan for happy marriages
that has never failed when practiced. The Amplified Bible says in
Ephesians 5:33, "Let each man of you (without exception) love his
wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see
that she respects and reverences her husband-that she notices him,
regards him, honors him, prefers him. " Simple? Absolutely not!
Exemplifying love and respect consistently is not always an easy
practice!
How can couples successfully practice the law of love? It's simple
but it does at times require work. How? Just be kind! Be What?
Be kind to one another. Kindness is more than deeds. It is an
attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything we do that
lifts another person (C. Neil Strait). Working diligently at being thoughtful-one towards
the other-is the real key to intimacy in marriage. Mother Teresa
said, "Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes
are truly endless." Wives need not cry themselves to sleep because
their husbands are insensitive, and husbands need not feel alone or
misunderstood because their wives are not in tune with their needs. The marriage
relationship is like a bank in which we make deposits and receive
dividends. We receive a return on that which we invest. One of the
most difficult things to give away is kindness; it usually comes
back to you (Anonymous).
Charles Galloway said, "The need to love and be loved is the
simplest of all human wants. People need love like they need the sun
and the rain. They perish without it. Humanities basic longing is to
be the object of love and to be able to give love. No other need is
quite so significant to the human nature". Successful marriage
is not a business of perfect people living perfectly by perfect
principles. Rather, marriage is a state in which very imperfect
people often hurt and humiliate one another, yet find the grace to
extend forgiveness to one another, and so allow the redemptive power
of God to transform their marriage (Spirit Filled Life Bible). "No
act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted," Aesop.
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