[This is a guest post by Neal Black, who together with his wife June, helped us with premarital counselling to prepare Olive and I for marriage.]
The other day the headlines read “Gold prices set record high”. I am all for investment when it gets me what I want. But if you are like me you didn’t jump on the gold band wagon soon enough and wish you had years ago. So I guess you can call me dumb for not investing sooner.
But wait, I’m not all crazy. I actually did invest in something that continues to pay huge returns. The way I see it, we invest in gold to make us more money to make us happy. So if I invest in something that makes me happier I am pretty smart, right? I think so.
So what did I invest in?
In their book The Love List: Eight Little Things That Make a Big Difference in Your Marriage [affiliate link], authors Les and Leslie Parrott said, “A few small actions—practiced on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis—can change everything for a couple.” I agreed, took it to heart and decided years ago to make some relatively small investments in my marriage that have turned into huge dividends. My marriage is what makes me happy and affects everything I do.
What did I invest? Time and some money, but not a lot relatively speaking for what I received back.
Daily: My wife and I make sure we take a minute to give each other our attention just before we part or when we reconnect. Plus we pray together for a few minutes each night.
Weekly: We go on a date. Tonight we are heading to our favorite ice cream place with one of their Buy One Get One free coupons.
Monthly: We go someplace together for a day, just the two of us.
Yearly: We head to a marriage getaway to help build our relationship like the Weekend to Remember conference by FamilyLife. This event has done amazing things for our marriage and a weekend away at a hotel has some great side benefits!
Small investments but huge returns! That gets me far more excited than gold.
How do you invest in your marriage?
About the Author:
Neal and June Black are frequent speakers at marriage and parenting events in Canada and Internationally. They love to clearly communicate God’s game-plan for relationships with humour, energy and lots of stories!
This post originally appeared at powertochange.com, and is used with permission by the author.
photo credit: gareth1953 Come on Brentford