Appreciation

I have been working on trying to notice the good things that my husband does each day and not to let the annoying things bother me.  I'd love to get to a place where I hardly notice those things.  I loved reading about having a sense of humor in our relationships which is another thing I've been trying to work on.  I think that it's important that we don't take life so seriously at times.  Or at least that we learn to laugh a lot because there are so many trivial things that get in the way that shouldn't.  As Dr. Gottman said, "A robust fondness-and-admiration system is central to remaining happily married - foibles and all."  Being able to laugh the little things away helps us to form fondness and admiration for each other.  Making sure that each partner feels known, respected and loved by you is another thing that I loved reading in Dr. Gottman's book.

I think that those things tie in very well with Dr. Goddard's chapter on Consecration.  He said, "Those who understand the things of God know that their imperfect partners will one day be made glorious.  One day we may feel honored to have known the people we now disdain."  I don't remember if it was in this class or my D&C class but we recently read a quote from Brigham Young where he said that if we could only see our husbands the way that they will be in the next life, we would bow down at their feet and worship them.  I loved that, and the quote from Goddard, because I believe that it's so important to keep eternity in mind.  This life is not going to last forever, but our actions in this life will determine our happiness and exaltation in the next.  Any time I start to think critically of my husband, I try to remind myself that I am far from perfect and that I need to cut him some slack.  It's not always easy but I've seen our relationship improve as we've tried to look toward each other with a more Christ-like view.  Again, we're only human and sometimes it can be very challenging.  I stumble and fall - a lot.  But the important thing is to get back up and keep trying, keep working to be better than we were and to keep working with our spouses to improve our marriages.