Are you the romantic type? Do you shower your spouse with public and private displays of affection?
If you answered "yes" to either of those questions, then the Bible is bound to be a source of inspiration for your softer side. If you answered "no," it's worth reading on to find out how it can be.
When we make a long-term commitment we honour it by holding up our end of the promise on an ongoing and regular basis. It's not enough to simply vow to love and cherish someone forever. You have to actually fulfil that vow through your actions.
When we already have so much to question and doubt, it's reassuring and uplifting to know that the love we have for other people in our life is reciprocated.
Essentially, people love to be loved, and they love knowing that they are loved and that they matter.
As Christians, if there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that we are loved by God. His ways reveal to us that love isn't implicit, but that it needs to be explicit. That's why the Bible is so clear when it comes to referring to the Father and the Son's love for us:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." — John 3:16
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." — John 15:13
So, why not take a page or a verse or a psalm out of God's book and let his lessons in love guide you to communicate to your spouse what's on your heart.
The following verses are great for writing on a post-it notes and sticking on the bathroom mirror so that they're one of the first things your husband or wife sees when they wake up.
They also work well if you're going to send them as part of a message throughout the day or adapt them to personalise them even further.
Proverbs 4:23—"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
1 John 4:7-8—"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Proverbs 31:10-11—"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain."
Ecclesiastes 9:9—"Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun."
Ephesians 5:21—"Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."
