Affection : Expressing care and closeness through physical touch and through words such as “I love you” or “I Care about you.”
(Romans 16:16. Mark 10:16)
Have you ever seen a young couple kissing big time in public? Too much PDA! (Public Display of Affection) Have you seen a cute older couple holding hands walking down the street? AWE! That kind of PDA we can handle! 🙂 In fact, we may even say to ourselves, “I want that when I am their age!” Well, why can’t you? How you treat one another as a couple today will lead to that “cute older couple” tomorrow!
When first starting to date, a couple is all about affection! You hold hands, you open the door for your lady, you sit close together, you just can’t wait to be with one another! So what happens? Time goes by in the relationship, you get married, life begins to set in and you forget to pursue one another. You forget to date regularly or even acknowledge your spouse came home at the end of the day. These things don’t happen on purpose, and it doesn’t mean you don’t love each other. It means showing affection to your spouse is something you purposefully have to do. Let’s face it, life can get busy, kids, jobs, chores etc…so it becomes easier and easier to let a little thing – like greeting your spouse – slip! Slip it does, right into thoughts and feelings of “I don’t feel loved anymore. I don’t think he/she even cares about me. I am not happy anymore.” It is a very slow fade onto a very slippery slope!
Are you thinking you are already in that place? (Wondering about your relationship.) You can change it around starting today! You know what your spouse enjoys, how they feel cared for! (If you don’t, ask!) Do that! Buy those flowers. Make his/her favorite dinner. Plan a date to her/his favorite place.(Social distance if you still have to). Greet your spouse when he/she comes home. Hold hands. Laugh together. Do what you did when you first started dating! You may think that can’t happen, but give it a try! You will see when you make an effort to show affection to your spouse, your spouse will almost certainly respond in a positive way! Your spouse just might start dating you again as well! Please make sure you make more than just one effort. It may take a while but it will be worth the investment of time, energy and creativity
What means the most to you will not just happen on its own. No, it takes work. It means making choices every single day. Just as your relationship slowly happened into the place you are today, it will be the same for taking it where you want it to be tomorrow. Time, purposeful choices, selflessness and a whole lot of love and affection will bring you to that “sweet older couple” in the future.
What purposeful choices do you need to make? One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was “ You just never know with another day my friend, so don’t quit!”
- Walk in the light of fresh encounters with Jesus. It is not difficult to find relationships that Jesus continued to pursue long after others would have given up. Would you meditate on how Jesus pursued a relationship with you and continues to pursue you today?
- Walk in the light of doing the Book / Doing the word of God. We know that we are to love as Jesus loves. In the gospel of John chapter 13 verse one scripture says Jesus loved His disciples to the end. He did not quit. He does not quit. Let’s not quit either!
- Walk in the light of real fellowship with other believers. Would you talk with your spouse, another friend in the family,or a friend outside the family about people you know who love (loved) well and who did not quit even in very difficult times?