“Can You Do This?” (Prov. 19:14)

The six most important words for a spouse to say:
“I admit I made a mistake.”

The five most important words:
“You did a good job.”

The four most important words:
“What is your opinion?”

The three most important words:

“I forgive you.”
The two most important words:

“Thank you.”

The most important word:
“We.”

The least important word:
“I.”

A couple went for counseling after 20 years of marriage. When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a tirade listing every problem they had ever had: loneliness, emptiness, lack of intimacy, arguing, and fighting. Finally, after allowing this to go on for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and, after asking the wife to stand, embraced and kissed her passionately. Her husband watched with a raised eyebrow. The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze. The therapist turned to the husband and said, “This is what your wife needs every other day, at least three times a week. Can you do this?” The husband thought for a moment and replied, “Well, I can’t bring her to you on Mondays, but Wednesdays and Fridays are fine.”

Don’t let someone else take what’s yours. Change your vocabulary. Change your behavior. Be the person you want your spouse to be. Your home will be kept together, not because being married is so much fun, but because two persons who are sinful, two persons who are contentious, are so caught by a dream bigger than themselves that they work throughout the years, in spite of repeated disappointments, to make the dream come true.