Marriage with Mari: Top Traits of Happily Married Couples

Rob and I used The 10 Best Decisions a Couple Can Make during our pre-marital counseling. Authors Bill and Pam Farrel asked couples to list the best traits of their long-term marriages. Here are a few that were repeated amongst the surveys: 

• We make room for each other.
• We maintain our own unique likes and activities.
• We aren’t jealous.
• We stick together.
• We show respect.
• We trust.
• We had a good sense of humor.
• We love God together.
• We want to make our marriage work.
• We spend time together.
• We talk things through.
• We don’t make major decisions without each other.
• We allow for our differences.
• We encourage each other.
• We both seek God daily, love him, and seek his will first.
• We know that we will be faithful to each other until death.
•  We share everything with each other as long as it is done in love. 
• We consider the others interest before our own (this is a fruit of the Holy Spirit).
• We believe that has the other person has my best interest at heart.
• We communicate our love daily to each other.
• We do not concern ourselves with how much the other person is giving or doing for our relationship. 
• We look to ourselves to see if we are being the kind of people that God wants us to be and the other person needs us to be. 
• We serve God together. 
• We forgive. 
• We are friends.
•  We have confidence in each other.
•  We enjoy all levels of intimacy. 
• We are honest with each other. 
• We practice hospitality together. 
• We are best friends. 
• We tell each other everything.
• We love being together.

Farrel, B., 2005, The 10 Best Decisions a Couple Can Make, Harvest House Publishers.

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