SISTER WISDOM

Make time for him.

Find out what romantic means for your husband.

Let him know what romantic means for you.

Be appreciative.

Love seems the swiftest but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.

~Mark Twain

Ask for a shoulder rub.

Say “please” and “thank you.”

Brag about him.

Send him funny, sweet, and sexy messages.

Make him breakfast.

Buy flowers and light candles for dinner.

Wear perfume.

Think not because you are now wed
That all your courtship’s at an end.
~Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza

Have a pillow fight.

Have a food fight.

Forgive.

Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.

~Marlene Dietrich

Be sassy.

Flirt with him.

Make him chase you.

Take him out on a date.

Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.

~Zsa Zsa Gabor

Be a little hard-to-get.

Listen.

Buy him a new cd or movie. Listen to it or watch it together.

Eat dessert first.

Make his birthday a big deal, even if he acts like he doesn’t care.

Be happy.

Nothing flatters a man as much as the happiness of his wife; he is always proud of himself as the source of it.

-Samuel Johnson

Tell him a joke.

Catch up on sports news before he gets home, then start a conversation about it.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
-Mignon McLaughlin

5-Minute Marriage Check

Our culture tends to throw the responsibility for being romantic onto the man. So if you end up with a dude who’s a dud in the romance department, you’re left out in the cold. That’s just silly.

Why don’t we take on some of this romantic business?
We’re good at it. We’re creative. And it’s fun not just to be wooed and surprised and treated, but to be the one doing the treating and surprising.

Romance makes for a stronger marriage, no matter which person initiates it.
And hey, maybe your dude will pick up some good ideas.

5-Minute Action Point

Plan something romantic for the next week. It could be very small: send him a card at work, buy him a ring tone, give him a massage.

Plan something romantic for this month. Make it special: a night out, a movie-and-pajamas night in, new lingerie.

Plan a kids-free getaway for sometime this year. It could be a single night at a nice hotel downtown, a weekend getaway, a low-budget cabin on the lake. Make it a priority, because it is.

Image courtesy of lo.tangelini.

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This post is {day 25} of the Build a Better Marriage Challenge.

It’s a 30-day challenge to be deliberate about building a better marriage. We’ll talk about some of the common obstacles to a better marriage (marriage killers) and some of the important habits for a successful marriage (marriage keys). We’ll also work through some of the misconceptions that affect our marriage, faulty thinking we’ve picked up from our culture, our pasts, and maybe even from the church. Each day’s reading will end with a 5-minute marrige check and a 5-minute action point, so you can take it on home.

Join in via the Mr Linky on the challenge page. You can also just read along, but remember that all challenge participants will receive a free copy of the ebook at the end of the challenge.

Here’s to better, stronger, happier marriages!

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