Treat your marriage like a garden! Every garden needs to be sown, weeded, nurtured, and protected. In order to do that it takes hard work, sacrifice, and commitment.
First off, every garden needs to be sown in the right dirt, and the same is with marriage, you need to find the right mate. That can be hard but as you follow God’s lead, He will guide and direct. Lots of prayer goes into that decision as you focus on His will for your life. The right spouse is key because if you don’t have the solid foundation of the person you are going to marry then there is not stability. Like the garden it needs to be planted on solid ground.
Then the next step is weeding your garden and taking out the bad parts that don’t produce the fruit. Like a marriage, each person comes into it with baggage or issues from their past. Those issues can cause you not to produce the spiritual fruit in your marriage and it can break down your marriage if you don’t deal with those issues and past hurts. Communication is key as you talk through those issues that tend to suffocate each other from fully being the marriage God has called it to be. As those weeds come out, the plants can grow.
As a husband and wife you start to grow and move to the next step of nurturing/fertilizing the garden. This is a vital part of your marriage. If you aren’t feeding into your marriage and taking care of it, then you allow the enemy to come in and get a foothold. Just like a garden, if it isn’t tended and watered then it loses its fruit and plants. This process takes time as you have to look to meet one another’s needs and find out how they feel loved and valued.
Once you understand how to take care of your mate then you can move to protection. Keeping your marriage protected is an area that you can’t compromise! Holding each other accountable will protect your marriage, being mindful of what you are putting into your marriage and your surrounding. The internet can be such an enemy in this area and learning to stay focused on God and not letting outside forces distract you from what God designed is important. Also connecting with couples that you look up to or are a role model for you that model a Godly marriage. Your surroundings are key in protecting your marriage. Like a garden needs to be protected from animals or bugs that would eat at your plants. As you grow in Christ together and keep your eyes on HIM, your marriage will thrive and grow into the garden of love.
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