BEHAVE YOURSELF INTO A BETTER MARRIAGE

A story is told by Pastor George Crane about a woman who came to see him in his office one day so angry at her husband that she wanted not only to divorce him, but cause him pain as well. Dr. Crane said to her, “Go home and act as if you really loved your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him (talk of faking it till you make it). After you have convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bombshell. Tell him that you are getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.”

The woman thought that was a brilliant idea, so she set out to totally convince her husband that she deeply, sincerely, completely loved him. Every day, she did everything she could think of to make him believe it. But by the time several months had passed, she was astonished to suddenly realize that she really did love him. She had actually behaved her way back into loving him.

The lesson from the story is this: If you are not a caring person now – but you desire to be a caring person – then go out and behave in caring ways. If you are not a …loving wife – but desire to be one – then go out and behave in a loving way. You see, a shift in doing, a behavior shift, will actually change the way you see and think and this change in perspective will improve your relationship with your husband. You will be amazed at how a change in your behavior might bring about that change in your husband’s behavior that you have always wanted.