ALMOST EVERYONE OF US IS GUILTY OF THIS!

"Let the husband give to the wife proper kindness, and likewise the wife also to the husband" (1 Corinthians 7:3, Modern King James Version). 

Virtually all marriages start out on a love tone. The guy doting on the lady and the lady's heart beating for her man. They both want to always be with each other because they enjoy one another's company. In between their hours of meetings, beautiful gifts and amorous messages would be flying back and forth between the two lovebirds. And then you have those endless phone calls that make you think that the network providers offer the services for free. If you know of stories that are contrary to these observations, they will be the exceptions rather than the rule. 

Everything always seem so perfect in the beginning of most marriages. There is hardly ever a hint that anything is wrong anywhere. And I am not too sure about the validity of the saying that "love is blind". I guess, often times, love is only being hopeful, trusting beyond reason that things will work out well. The point is that love requires intensive maintenance, especially as it matures, and love seems to always believe that those who travel her route would commit themselves to that great work of maintenance. When the individuals who handle marital love fail in their responsibilities, love becomes sick and may eventually go into coma. 

But you know, my observation is that because love is of God, true love really never dies. The moment you begin to do the appropriate works required to maintain love, she revives and flourishes again, like a dying plant which has just been watered. Let the husband begin to tend to his wife again. Let him now do all that he did when the love affair started. Let him close his eyes to the fault of his woman like he did in the beginning. Let him be quick to forgive, even forgiving in advance as he did in the beginning. Let him buy the gifts again, make the lengthy calls again and talk gently with his woman. You know, he never shouted at his woman when he was courting her. 

I remember talking to a lady not too long ago. She had told her husband in my presence, "Are you going to eat the food or not?" Then I said to her, "But you didn't say that to him when you were to feed him with the wedding cake. You didn't poke the cake at his face, saying, 'Are you going to eat this cake or not?' You probably knelt down to put that piece of cake in his mouth and planted a kiss on his lips to seal it. What happened to that love, that tender, caring love?" Yes, my dear lady, what happened to that respect and honour with which you treated your man in the beginning? 

I suppose that we are all guilty, both the menfolk and the womenfolk. We have all failed in our duties, one way or the other. But like the Lord told the Ephesian church, I guess if we all return to showing our first love and doing our first works, our marriages will experience the biggest positive rebounds. My friend, don't give excuses. Give it a try. If you will be bold and gracious enough to start doing what you stopped doing for your spouse, a new fire will come into your love life and a new wine will flow in your marriage.