A Joyful Marriage - Week 12
By Amy Miller
The Joy I found in my marriage this week: the power of a “thank you.”
This week I have been noticing how much we say “Thank you” to each other. Whether it’s something big like bringing home the bacon from work every day, making dinner, or just giving a back scratch. For the whole week, I watched all these back and forth tokens of appreciation change the way we talk to each other, and the way we go about doing things for each other. I believe these little tokens of appreciation to each other continue to help us feel like the other notices our efforts on a daily basis.
I don’t want to come off annoying and self-righteous saying all this. I mean, I guess I can say what I want because this a joy that I’M seeing and feeling in my marriage, which is not something that can be challenged by anyone, haha. While I don’t want to give this idea that we are always perfect at being kind to each other, I would say that genuine thanksgiving of each other is one of our strongest points as a couple. And that’s something I want to be proud of and joyous about because I know for a fact it’s something that can be the difference between a happy or unhappy relationship.
Showing appreciation to your spouse for the things they do for you, your family and for others helps them feel like you notice their efforts. And when appreciation is shown daily, they are going to feel noticed like that on a daily basis.
I heard something once that a “thank you” is an expression of humility, and I loved that correlation! Because showing humility means you’re letting your pride go, and I think we could all agree that the less pride we have in our marriage, the better!
And I couldn’t agree MORE with this quote ^ It just makes sense with that cycle of appreciation I have talked about before, like in this video of good marriage advice we received on our wedding day. The less you appreciate your spouse, the less likely they are to do things for you in the future, AND the less they will express appreciation to you, probably.
While I’m specifically seeing this joy this week and writing about it, I do notice it throughout the rest of the year, and I know I will continue to find joy in it because it’s a big deal! The cycle of appreciation is a pretty powerful tool that I hope we continue to use for the rest of our marriage, and I hope others will too!
WHAT JOY DID YOU FIND IN YOUR MARRIAGE THIS WEEK?!
Read about the joy I found in my marriage last week.
Join in on the project by sharing a joy in YOUR marriage! Comment, share, post, or hashtag it with #ajoyfulmarriage and there you go! The best part about participating is that not only have you just thought about your marriage in a positive way and gave some public praise to your spouse, but you’ve also inspired a friend who follows you, to do the same!
Let’s help each other find a more joyful marriage :)