Marriage - Our Closest Neighbor

Good morning, Five Minute Families! What five minutes a day are you intentionally investing into your family members to make an impact for the kingdom of God? We hold the power in our hands to make a difference in the lives of our loved ones. Five minutes. Five intentional minutes a day to make an impact that lasts a lifetime. Please join us as we expand on that concept today as we continue to chat about marriage. In a study conducted by Ed Diener the happiest 10 percent of the participants all had strong supportive relationships. A strong social network didn’t guarantee happiness, but it was a requirement to be in the happiest group. Happy people have strong social relationships. Likewise, in the Sainsbury’s Living Well Index study 73 percent of those who classify themselves as having a high quality of life report having strong support networks. Who is your strong supporter? Proverbs 16:20 reminds us, “He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.” God should be our first and preeminent relationship. And, God encourages us to invest in relationships with his many one anothering statements and His establishment of marriage. We are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. And, Five Minute Families, our closest neighbor is always going to be our spouse. We must choose to show love and respect to our spouses every day. While five minutes a day is a good start if you have been distant or you are in an excessively busy season of life (it happens, it’s ok.), but, in marriage, the five minutes we are talking about is the concept of five minutes MORE. Five minutes more. Five minutes more when he is frustrated with an issue from work. Five minutes more when she is feeling unheard. Five minutes more when he has been disrespected. Five minutes more when she has been left unloved. You see, we all fail each other. No matter how hard we try, we will fail our spouse, and no matter how hard our spouse tries, he or she wil