Ten Ways to Show Appreciation for Your Partner’s Efforts
In this article, we’ll explore the ten ways to show appreciation for your partner’s efforts and pragmatically express your love.
1. Verbal Affirmation.
Choose moments with your partner, look into their eyes, and lovingly tell them what their efforts mean. Let sincerity ring in each word so they feel the warmth of love in your voice, and the strength to continue in the marital journey. It is abusive to never express and affirm your love!
2. Quality Time.
In a busy world, it’s easy to forget your loved one. Create spaces to unplug, listen with focus given only to them, and invent pleasurable times together, however small. Whether it’s a date night or a weekend getaway, make time for each other.
3. Acts of Service.
Lovingly lighten each other’s load. Through small deeds done without being asked, show your love and affection to your partner.
4. Written Notes.
Words can outlive a moment. Capture your feelings for them on paper and leave them as surprises to discover. Simple notes may become treasures kept and re-read to remember they have a place in your heart.
5. Gifts.
Thoughtful gifts don’t just gather dust – they say “I listened, I care, I want to see you smile.” Find what sparks joy for your loved one and present it regularly to watch their eyes light up with joy.
6. Support.
A partnership is giving strength when the other has none left. Celebrate each win together, and in times of struggle stand beside them as shelter from the storm. Your steady faith in them will help bear them through all the ups and downs.
7. Quality Touch.
Our bodies know languages that words cannot say. With touch, express the wordless ways you find comfort in being close. Casual moments of contact can speak volumes of the bond you share. Physical touch releases oxytocin, the love hormone, which strengthens your bond and shows your partner that you care.
8. Help with Chores.
Lending helping hands with chores to show them their rest and dreams are as important as your own. Teamwork makes any task lighter.
9. Surprises.
Keep the magic alive with surprises. Surprise them with fun, thoughtful gestures, with passion and care. Surprises say “I was thinking of only you in this moment and wanted to bring you joy.”
10. Gratitude.
Say thanks for all they are to you each day, not just grand gestures but small kindnesses. Gratitude is the simplest love language – so speak it with your eyes, smile, touch, and heart.
Showing appreciation is a powerful way to build a stronger relationship and marriage, so take the time to show your partner that you value and appreciate their efforts.
One of the ways to avoid rancour in relationships and marriage is to budget. Not just a budget, but a budget that honors God.
As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of our resources, including our finances. Creating a budget that honors God requires us to prioritize our spending, live within our means, and trust in His provision.
In this devotional, we will explore practical steps to create a budget that aligns with biblical principles and honors God.
Step 1: Identify Your Income
Start by calculating your total monthly income from all sources, including your job, investments, and any side hustles. This will give you a clear picture of how much money you have coming in each month.
Step 2: Categorize Your Expenses
Next, categorize your expenses into needs, wants, and giving. Needs include essential expenses like rent/mortgage, utilities, food, and transportation. Wants include discretionary expenses like entertainment, hobbies, and travel. Giving includes your tithe (10% of your income) and any other charitable donations.
Step 3: Prioritize Your Spending
Prioritize your spending based on biblical principles. Here are some guidelines to consider.
Give first: Set aside your tithe and any other charitable donations as soon as you receive your income. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:7
Meet your needs: Ensure you have enough money for essential expenses like rent/mortgage, utilities, food, and transportation.
Save for the future: Set aside a portion of your income for long-term savings and investments.
Live within your means: Avoid overspending and debt by living within your means.
Step 4: Create a Budget Plan
Using the 50/30/20 rule as a guideline, allocate your income into the following categories.
50% for needs (essential expenses)
30% for wants (discretionary expenses)
20% for giving and savings (tithe, charitable donations, and long-term savings)
Step 5: Monitor and Adjust
Regularly monitor your spending and adjust your budget as needed. Consider using a budgeting app or spreadsheet to track your expenses and stay on top of your finances
Relationship Goals: 4 Characteristics to Strive For
Let’s talk about what makes a relationship truly healthy and strong. Here are the top five characteristics of a healthy relationship, straight from the Bible:
Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to be aware of and manage your own emotions, as well as empathize with and interact with others. It helps you navigate conflicts and challenges healthily and constructively.
Ultimately, it helps you to understand your partner more and relate with kindness instead of cruelty in the event of weaknesses.
According to Journal of Family Psychology, Couples with high emotional intelligence have a 50% lower chance of divorce
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9)
2. Keep Talking.
Communication is everything! Lovers are never muted. They keep talking, they have learned to disagree without being disagreeable and to be sweethearts regardless of opinions.
Couples who communicate effectively have a 70% higher chance of resolving conflicts successfully.
Gloria Copeland said “Communication is the lifeblood of any relationship. Without it, the relationship will die.”
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6)
3. Compromise and Flexibility.
Rigidity is the hallmark of fools. Listen to your partner. You are not a statue. Don´t be a dried fish, be fresh all the time and be malleable within a scriptural context.
No one gets their way all the time. Learn to compromise and be flexible in your relationship, finding solutions that work for both partners.
Oretha Hagin said, “Compromise is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength and maturity.”
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment (Romans 12:3)
4. Trust and Honesty
Trust is the glue that binds friends together and the thread that weaves lovers into a beautiful partnership.
Trust and honesty are essential in building a strong and healthy relationship. Be truthful and transparent in your interactions, and work to establish and maintain trust.
Don’t break trust continually, or else you have nothing to show for it after a while!
Kenneth Copeland said “Trust is the foundation of any relationship. Without trust, you have nothing.”
Trust will keep your relationship and marriage on track!
Pro 11:3 (MSG) The integrity of the honest keeps them on track; the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin.
Complaining nonstop sucks the energy. Constant criticism without affirmations can quickly destroy the esteem of your partner, which might already be fragile.
Eph 4:29 (GW) Don’t say anything that would hurt another person. Instead, speak only what is good so that you can give help wherever it is needed. That way, what you say will help those who hear you.
7. Financial disagreements.
Money stress can be so overwhelming. This can quickly escalate when one or both partners are financially undisciplined. Work with a budget and stay on the same page. Learn to trust God for your finances as well.
Php 4:19 (GW) My God will richly fill your every need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus.
8. No quality time together.
Relationships need a couple of times together to be at their best. Spend time and invest in quality time together. Pray together, and play together. Laugh and relax together and stop worrying unnecessarily.
Ecc 4:9-10 (GW) Two people are better than one because together, they have a good reward for their hard work. [10] If one falls, the other can help his friend get up. But how tragic it is for the one who is ⌞all⌟ alone when he falls. There is no one to help him get up.
9. Lack of intimacy.
Not feeling close physically and emotionally strains things. Do not work against your intimacy through lies, deception, and insensitivity. Study your partner and make them happy as much as you can.
The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:3
10. Not resolving conflicts constructively.
Sweeping issues under the rug or fighting dirty poisons the vibe. Settle quarrels quickly. A good union is one of two forgivers. Avoid strife and don’t sulk continually.
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18
This is an interesting topic, and I want everyone to go along with me. This is the topic of Steve Harvey’s best-selling book, and it is still very relevant today.
Basically, we will be looking at two aspects of this topic: 1. How to behave like a woman 2. We will be delving into a little bit of how men think. Women need to understand how men think in order to live successfully with them and be able to get the best of men.
First, let us deal with how a lady or a woman should act.
Let’s look at how God fashioned or created the woman.
Genesis 2:21-23 NIV [21] So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. [22] Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. [23] The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
Before the woman was created, she was needed to meet the particular needs of the man. She was created from the finest bone and smoothest bone of the man. She was made out of the man’s rib. The Bible says God put the man to sleep. There is a mystery about women that only God understands.
No wonder when the man woke up he could only explain, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘Woman’.” I believe there is something about every woman that should make men go, “Wow.” The shape, style, posture, hips, face, smiles, hair, nose, nails, breast, and everything about the woman.
A woman is meant to be beautiful inside and outside. Somebody rightly said, “Women are created for hugs and kisses, to be pampered and cherished, not for punches.”
