Valentines on you
Did you hear about the man who was sick of his wife and wanted a divorce? He went to see an attorney in order to get some advice. The attorney asked the man if he really wanted to hurt his wife badly in the divorce. The man replied, “Absolutely!” The attorney said, “Then here is what you should do. For the next thirty days I want you to go out of your way to be nice to her. Send her flowers, call her every day, take her to her favorite restaurants, take her to movies that she likes, and go shopping with her. Do everything in your power to show her how much you love and care about her and want to meet her needs. Then, after thirty days, when she is madly in love with you, that is when we will file the divorce action. It will totally catch her off guard and will hurt her deeply.”
Well, when the man heard this, he was delighted. He thought that was great advice. So, without any hesitation, he went into action. For the next thirty days he poured his time, effort, attention, money, resources, and everything else into his relationship with his wife. They went to movies, plays, concerts, out to eat, took trips together – it was incredible! He showered her with kindness, love, gentleness, and words of encouragement daily. At the end of thirty days, the attorney called and asked if he was ready to file the divorce action against his wife. The man replied, “Are you kidding? Why would I want to divorce this woman? She is the woman of my dreams! I am so in love with her I can hardly wait to see her every day. Why would I ever want to divorce someone as wonderful as this?!”
Although that is a humorous story, it does press the point I am trying to make. You see, when the man changed the way he was behaving towards his wife, everything changed. He no longer focused on what she was doing wrong; rather, he focused on what he could do right. In other words, when he became the right kind of person, the situation began to change. He also learned the truth found in the principle, “Where your treasure is – there will your heart be also.” I honestly believe that is the key to a happy marriage and a happy relationship. It is not trying to control another person or force them to do what you want them to do; it is simply making yourself do what you should do in order to demonstrate love to the other person.