Two More Ingredients to Make Love Last Forever

by Harold and Bette Gillogly

Making love last forever.  That’s what you want, isn’t it?  And everything that comes with it?  So what’s the secret?  Putting the right ingredients in gives the right results out!  We talked last week about the first two essential ingredients you need to use.  So let’s get right into the next two ingredients.

3. The Acceptance Choice. When you promised to love, honor and cherish your spouse, you were promising to accept your mate, to see them and treat them as valuable.

The opposite of acceptance is criticism.  Continual criticism will erode your marriage because it says to your mate in big neon letters: “I do not accept you!”  Be honest, do you enjoy being with someone who likes and accepts you just the way you are?  Of course you do!  But how do you like being with someone who lets you know they don’t like you just the way you are and who tries to criticize you into being different?  Well, that’s exactly how your spouse feels too.

You can choose to stop criticizing and begin to focus on something you like about your spouse.  Even if you can think of only one good quality to begin with, then focus on it.  Meditate on it and thank God for it, and soon you will begin to see more. Remember 1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Make the Acceptance Choice!

4. Do Stuff Together Choice. Sounds easy, huh?  But it rarely is, especially after the children come along.  You can get so busy doing the “important things” – you know, things like earning a living, kids sports, school activities, responsibilities, responsibilities, responsibilities – you might completely forget to have fun together…as a couple. A few years of “important things” can make life very serious and BORING.

We’re aren’t saying to forget the “important things.”  We’re saying don’t let them crowd out your time together.  Even doing simple things together can turn into fun.  Running errands together can be fun if you include stopping to get ice cream.

We also encourage you to try new activities together.  Take up line dancing, bicycling, hiking.  You could even volunteer to teach a Sunday School class together.  You will be surprised at what this will do for your closeness quotient!

Make the Do Stuff Together Choice!

We’re half-way through the right ingredients to make your love last forever.  Four more to go.  Read our blog next week to find out the next two.  We hope you are finding these ingredients to be practical and easier than you thought.  They’re pretty simple. It’s all about choosing to do them.  You can think they are great suggestions and agree with them 100%.  But you’ve gotta choose to do them to get the results you want.

We encourage you to follow our blog through August and discover what all 8 ingredients are and how to put them into practice.  We also encourage you to watch our webinar Real Love Walking, (https://marriages.net/real-love-walking/) for more help in making your love last forever.