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| 10 Ways to Build Trust and Strengthen Your Marriage |
Next time you find yourself feeling frustrated with your spouse or struggling to maintain enthusiasm for your marriage, take a moment to remember your vows. Better yet, make a handy copy to keep in your wallet. Why? Because marriage is more than a piece of paper; it’s a framework designed to give you the best possible experience in a committed relationship. The vows express the promises, purposes, intentions, and hopes you both bring into this binding covenant.
If we remember this and re-read the covenant in that context, it becomes easier to imagine joy and passion as the result.
1. Continually Reaffirm Your Love
Right now, contact your spouse and tell them how grateful you are that they married you and that they are the light of your life.
2. Love Your Spouse with Passion and Determination
“Fierce” in this context means with passion. Passion, like love, often relies on intention before it gets going under its own steam.
3. Learn the Definition of “Faithfulness” by Heart
Faithfulness means fidelity, constancy, dependability, dedication, loyalty, trueness, advocacy, and determination.
4. Frame Your Favorite Union Photo and Place It on Your Desk
Then, take a photograph of your desk and send it to your spouse along with a love note.
5. Write Out Your Marriage Vows in a Letter to Your Spouse
Handwritten notes are golden. Tell them how much these vows mean to you. Then get home early.
6. Break the Vows Down into Bullet Points
Every day, do something meaningful to support each point until you’ve gone through them all. Then, start over.
7. Paraphrase Your Vows into a New, Contemporary Document
For example, if you said, “for richer for poorer,” you might write, “I’m committed to you no matter what; if this house was repossessed tomorrow, I’d still have a home because you are my home…”
8. Understand the Definition of Love
“Love is not the same as infatuation. Long-term commitment is the most profound expression of love.” If you’re looking for hormones to drive the relationship, you will both be increasingly disappointed. When commitment leads the way, infatuation takes care of itself.
9. Celebrate the Number of Days You Have Been Married
Calculate how many days you have been married and then ask your spouse out on a date to celebrate. Joy is most often found in the small things. Take note of these small things, then relate them to your initial set of vows.
10. Make Your Own “Top-10” List
Write down ten ways that being married and keeping your promises have brought happiness, peace, and joy into your life. Then share the list with your spouse.
