This Sunday, I am kicking off a two-week sermon series on love and marriage.  Whenever I preach this type of series, I begin to think of all the struggling marriages that I know.  I want to offer them hope and help. Here is one of the things I tell couples who wish to improve their marriage.

Your relationship with your spouse is the result of your actions.  If you invest time and energy into your relationship, it will always improve as you grow closer together.  If you neglect each other for whatever reason, you will grow apart, and your relationship will struggle. 

Here is the part that most people do not understand.  They immediately think that to save their marriage, they need to take some significant action to change everything.  They believe their spouse wants them to give up all their hobbies, friends, and personal pursuits so they can spend every minute together.  That is RARELY the case. 

What your relationship needs to grow and thrive is small things often.  Doing things like sharing a 10-minute conversation each day can bring you closer together.  There is a long list of little gestures you can do to help your marriage thrive.  You can send a text every day to say that you are thinking of them or that you love them.  A touch, a look, a word, and a little time are all actions that will improve your marriage. 

The old question is, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is, “One bite at a time.” And how do you improve your marriage?  The answer, “One small action at a time.”