KEYS TO FAMILY HAPPINESS-Cultivate Spirituality as a Couple

Why Cultivate Spirituality as a Couple?

Why, then, should marriage mates strive to cultivate spirituality as a couple? Consider this illustration: Two gardeners jointly own a garden plot and want to grow vegetables. One decides to plant seeds at a certain time of year, whereas the other  thinks that the seed should be planted later.  One wants to use a particular type of fertilizer, but the other disagrees strongly and feels that the plants  do not need any help. One wants to toil in the garden each day. The other is happy  to sit back and watch, rather than work. In such a scenario, the garden may yield  some results, but it will not produce  as much as it would have if both gardeners had agreed on what to do and then worked together to achieve those goals.

A husband and wife are like those gardeners. If just one partner cultivates spirituality, the relationship might improve. (1 Peter 3:1, 2) Yet, how much better it is when both partners agree to support each other as they serve God!   "Two are better than one," wrote wise King Solomon.  Why? "Because they have a good reward for their hard work. For if one of them should fall, the other one can raise his partner up." -Ecclesiastes  4:9, 10. 

You likely yearn to cultivate spirituality with your marriage mate. But just  as with gardening, desire alone will not yield results. Consider two challenges  you may face and how you might overcome them. 

Next time: KEYS TO FAMILY HAPPINESS -Cultivate Spirituality as a Couple; Challenge 1

From the Watchtower magazine, 2011