A Valentine's Day Tip

I have a confession... I am horrible at gift giving.  Seriously, I am horrible!  My wife Lindsay and I have been married for eight and half years now, and some of our worst times of contention in our marriage have dealt with gift giving.  She came from a family where gift giving was a big deal--I came from a family where it wasn't a big deal at all. 

So, naturally, when days like Valentine's Day roll around, I am not in the best of moods.  I have to really motivate myself to just do something on the gift giving front.  I know this sounds horrible as if I do not love my wife, but that is not the case!  I am also pretty sure that there are others that join me in the "gift giving failure" club.

Moving on from my failures... I want to briefly think about how as followers of Christ we can take advantage of this holiday.  Gifts such as chocolates and flowers and bears (not sure why we give our spouses a children's stuffed animal) are all great gestures, but when we turn to the Scriptures there is a much greater picture for us to see.

In Ephesians 5:32, Paul sums up his instructions on marriage by saying, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”  In other words, Paul is saying that our marriages are to be pictures of the relationship between Christ and the church.  Our marriages are to be testimonies to the world around us about how great our God is.  As we prepare for Valentine’s Day tomorrow, we need to take a few minutes and evaluate our marriage.  Is it really a picture of the gospel? When people around us look at our marriage do they see a picture of the gospel?

This is why the Unstatus Your Quo® Growth Plan was born.  We seek to help our clients gain clarity of purpose in every area of their lives and then take steps of action towards living out that purpose. 

So here is you Valentine's Day tip... Ask your spouse about one small thing that you can do to serve him/her daily that will better help your marriage show off the gospel to the world around you.

I am not saying to not get the chocolates or flowers or kids stuffed animals.  In fact, I still have to figure out what I am going to get my wife so that we do not have the same conversation about my gift giving failures.  I am saying that it is time for us to take a small step and fulfill the purpose God has for our marriage.

Noah