A Time to Be Grateful

I love this time of year! It’s a time when we are surrounded by family and those we love, we can eat delicious food, and we can spend a little more time thinking about the things we are grateful for. The more we focus on gratitude, the more likely we are to forget ourselves and put others first. I wish that everyone made that such a focus year round!

We have just finished up a book called “Drawing Heaven Into Your Marriage” in my Marriage class and I have loved reading it. I recommend it to everyone! Check it out! This week’s chapter was on charity, and what a perfect time to read it!

Charity is the pure love of Christ: love FOR Christ, love FROM Christ, and love LIKE Christ. As we make Christ the center of our lives and our marriages, there is no way that we can fail.

Love for Christ: When we have love for our Savior we will want to follow Him. We will strive to become more like Him and rely on Him. We will trust Him. Loving Christ will make us want to be better and will help us make our marriages strong.

Love from Christ: Everyone is worthy of Christ’s love and all deserve to feel it. When we feel it for ourselves we will be able to use it to change. It will give us understanding of His great love for others that I believe will help us develop more love for them as well. When we know that Christ loves us despite our weaknesses, we can have no doubt that He has the same love for our spouse.

Love like Christ: When we are able to feel love from Christ and for Christ, we will naturally start to love LIKE He does. Christ was never quick to anger, never criticized, He wasn’t easily offended or jumped to conclusions. He was selfless, He put others’ needs over His own, He didn’t judge but loved freely, He had an eternal perspective and saw everyone’s worth, and much, much more! That is true charity.

Having charity in marriage is key to keeping it successful. In my opinion there is no way that one can act as the Savior would and have a failing marriage! But it is easier said than done. We must learn to stand strong against Satan and his temptations because He will do all that He can to keep us from making our marriages strong.

I believe that as we trust in the Lord, strive to follow His example, pray for strength and charity, and have gratitude for our spouse, we will be strong and our marriages will be blessed.

I know that for me every time that I try to be a little more grateful I notice an increase of joy in my life and marriage. I can see many great things in my husband that I may have overlooked or forgotten before.

Let us all remember what a wonderful gift marriage is and make it known to your spouse!