It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship. That’s the mantra that is becoming so prevalent in christian circles (yes, the word christian is lowercase on purpose). Can we get so caught up in semantics that we forget to set examples and actually work on building relationships with God and one another?
One of the relationships that can be difficult to keep healthy is marriage. It is the most intimate relationship we have here on earth with one another and the one that takes the most effort. There can be several reasons why it is difficult to grow. One is because as humans, we are most often focused on ourselves, our own needs and desires. Consequently, we put the needs and desires of others behind ours.
This past Mothers’ Day, my wife asked the kids to get her a Keurig. She drinks a lot of coffee. I only drank coffee at work because I did not want to have the “hassle” of making a pot of coffee for maybe my one cup I would drink. I also didn’t want the flavored, or specialty coffees she would drink. So a Keurig made sense for our home.
I would never make, or get her a cup of coffee. Since the Keurig arrived, and it is more convenient, I have begun to make her a cup of coffee in the morning, or prepare the Keurig for her for when she woke up.
Soon after I began to do that, she began to do the same. Placing the k-cup in the unit, even having my travel mug in place, preparing it for me.
Yes, it seems like such a small gesture, but the bigger message it sends is that we are thinking about, and care about, each other.
Yes, I have begun to do more “small things” to show that I care and that my wife is important to me. She is doing the same. It is the little things. The basics of a Christian life is to love God and love others. The closest relationships we have are with God and with our mate/spouse. Shouldn’t we work the hardest on maintaining those.
1 John 3:18 sums it up for me. I like it best in the living Bible where it reads, “Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.”
Actions really do speak louder than words.
Pastor Bill,
I have been married over 35 years to my best friend and sweetheart, Karon. She is an avid coffee drinker, I have never had the desire to even try coffee, I prefer to drink tea myself. But every morning for as long as I can remember, I get up and prepare her Bunn coffee maker for her first pot of coffee before I get ready to leave for work. She tells me it tastes better for her when I make it than when she makes it herself later in on in the day. This is a very small thing to do, but it sure puts a big smile on her face every day, which puts a big smile on my face. Recently she went to help her mom and dad out in AL for over a month, many times while she was gone I found myself preparing her coffee for her even though she wasn’t even home.
Andy Sullivan