Practice Marriage

By: Jenifer Metzger

Have y'all been watching the Summer Olympics? My husband and I love the Olympics! Especially swimming and volleyball. One very important thing about the Olympics is that each and every Olympian has worked very hard to get where they are. They didn't wake up one morning and say, "I think I'll go to Rio and compete in the Olympics today." No. They worked hard most or all of their lives and earned their spot on their team. The average Olympian trains 4-6 hours a day, 6 days a week, 12 months a year. They all know how important practice and hard work are.

All 4 of my kids play an instrument, I have 3 drummers and 1 pianist. They practice their instruments regularly. At any given moment you can walk in my house and hear the loud beat of the drums, or the gentle tapping of the piano keys. My kids have learned that practicing is important. They know that the more we practice at something, the better we become.

What about marriage? 

You may wonder, how can we practice marriage? Let me share a few ways:

• Practice forgiveness. Be quick to forgive. Your husband will mess up and let you down from time to time. Be quick to forgive him. After all, you want to be forgiven.
• Practice love. Love is a choice that you have to make every day. Practice waking up each morning and saying, "I will love my husband today with the love of Christ."
• Practice patience. Your husband is going to do things that drive you crazy. He's going to do things that you think he's taking too long at. Practice being patient with him.
• Practice kindness. Even when you've had a rough day and you are running low on kindness, or your husband has had a rough day and he's the one running low, be kind.
• Practice listening. Listen intently to him. Really heard the words he's saying and the words he's not saying. By listening, you are showing him that he is important to you.

I am sure many athletes have days that they'd rather not practice and just take the day off. But they exercise determination and self-control and press on anyway. We need to do the same. Even when you don't want to practice, press on and do it anyway. We know the old saying that practice makes perfect. Your marriage will likely never be perfect because it's made up of 2 flawed human beings. But it can be really good. The more you practice, the better it will be.

Your turn! Share other ways you can practice marriage.