NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

It feels good and special to fall in love with that handsome gentleman or beautiful damsel. When we fall in love, we go the extra mile to please our dating partners. During the first few weeks or months of dating, a man becomes a superhero and a lady become the perfect one-stop shop where man will get all his needs met. This scenario applies to a newly married couple.

It sounds interesting how some people diminish in affection as the relationship grows. The same partner who calls and messages frequently to check-up on the other partner no longer sees the need to do so after he or she is married to his or her hitherto cherished partner. It appears that most people are good at falling in love but are terrible at sustaining a relationship. They are like the football player who starts a football match with vigour and charisma but after the first half, their style of play is woefully inadequate to guarantee their team a draw talk less of a win over their opponent.

The biggest challenge of most relationships and marriages that have subsisted over a year and a half or more is that one or both partners begin to take the relationship for granted. Partners no longer take seriously the little but important acts of love in their relationship. This is where the silent killer known as taken-for-granted begins to develop and destroy like cancer within the marriage in the form of anger and disappointment.

Some of the things that a partner takes for granted which at the long run have adverse effects on the relationship are:

1. Ignoring the birthday of your husband, wife/ fiance/ fiancee and not treating it as special.
2. Talking ill about your spouse to your family members and friends.
3. One of the spouses ignoring or refusal to adequatly perform his or her parental responsibilties putting the burden on the other spouse.
4. Not showing appreciation to your spouse for his or her unique sacrifices.
5. Refusal to show remorse and appologise after hurting your partner.
6. Refusal to eat from home for serveral days or weeks because of a misunderstanding.
7. The cold manner you welcome your partner when he or she returns home from a journey or work.
8. Not showing extra care or concern when you learn that your wife or husband is not feeling well.
9. Refusal to help or run errands for your spouse when they are challenged by other equally important assignments.
10. A wife no longer pays attention to good recipes hence prepares tastless or poorly prepared meals.
11. You no longer bath with your spouse and massage him or her when the needed.
12. Not making time for to effectively converse or chat with your spouse as a way of spending time together and enhancing intimacy.
13. Refusal to make time for picnics and vacations together.
14. Failing to give attention to your partner and to prioritise the emotional and sexual needs of your partner.
15. Being secretive and living like a co-tenant with him or her.
16. Making it a habit of staying home and refusing to attend church services with your partner. Refusal to pray and share spiritual values with him or her meanwhile when you you met him or her, you will even attend an all-night service because of him or her.

All the above-mentioned facts amount to taking your partner or spouse for granted. The good news is that we can always reignite the fire and passion of love into our relationships if only we are willing to make it work, let us be encouraged by the word of Solomon when he wrote that “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. “ (Song of Songs 8:6-7) My dear friend, go back to the little but important things that sustained your beautiful relationship. You know your partner more than anyone else, let go of the past, the foundation is not destroyed, it is only the walls, begin to rebuild the walls and the broken bridge of love and intimacy. Take not your partner for granted and you will be a happy spouse for your partner will learn to cherish every act of love you show him or her.

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)