Photo by August de Richelieu
A successful marriage is a goal that people tend to seek as this gives them fulfillment and a vision of stability and family.
Hillaire Louis Jean’s The Seven Principles of Successful Marriage is a self-help and relationship book that tells how the author and his wife found harmony in their marriage. Hillaire gives the different ingredients of how they manage to keep love alive in their union as husband and wife. This book also provides tips and information on how readers can find the best moments for their partners.
Marriage is a formal and legal union of two individuals that would make a family. People tend to feature marriage as a positive climactic event to their romance, making them a husband and a wife before their family, friends, and loved ones. In many stories, marriage is the commencement of the couple’s “happy ever after.” What happens after the ceremony is another story to tell since the couple will have to fuel their love and passion to keep their marriage and love alive.
Here are the keys to a successful marriage that happy couples follow:
Communication
Every successful marriage starts with a good flow of communication. Couples may have been together for years before their official marriage, but they may still have a lot of things to learn from each other. Communication can be verbal, gestural, or emphatic connections. Each individual in the marriage should learn their ways of communication as one, if not both, may have grown up in a different household environment that shaped their way of communicating things.
As a married couple, you must learn the nuances, gestures, and emotional permeations of your partner, and vice versa. Marriage is never a one-way street. Both members should make an effort to understand the other half.
Gratefulness
One of the greatest keys to a successful marriage is being thankful for your other half. Thankfulness gives more sense of love for the partner. Even if your partner’s needs are challenging to you, these needs might be keys to being thankful for why the marriage works out fine. To achieve gratefulness, you must fully understand your partner’s needs. So, you should always go back to “communication.”
Time
When you’re married, you should give time to your partner as you are united as one in the eyes of God and the law. You may want to plan for fun adventures, picnics, movies, vacations, dates, or some time to relax. You should always find time to have a break from the stressful world and relieve stress together.
Personal Time
Being married does not always mean that you should give 100% of your time to your partner. It may be good for others, but people are different. You will somehow need alone time to recharge. Keeping track of personal time will help you avoid burning out from each other’s presence. Always give yourself a well-deserved me-time, and come back to your partner’s arms as a fully recharged individual.
Agreement and Disagreement
In marriage, disagreement is one thing that gives spice. It can be stressful for the couple, but it is the time for you to decide on something both you should agree on. You must take in mind that it is okay to disagree sometimes, but you should seek time and space to finally acquiesce to an idea that both of you should work on.
Trust
Trust is the foundation of a successful union. Couples tend to encounter criticism, contempt, temptations, and stonewalling that threaten their marriage. With this, a couple must let themselves be open to each other, trusting each one of their ideas. Furthermore, trust should help both parties to see over the fight and heal the relationship.
Faithfulness
Faithfulness is maintaining loyalty to the partner. Faith fuels trust. It is the aspect of allegiance and belief that marriage will flourish. Lastly, if one of the couples does not build strong faith in the partner, there will come a time when a single fault will cause the marriage to break and be irreparable.
Fidelity
Fidelity is a domain of faithfulness that delves into the extramarital space and sex. It is the loyalty to one sexual partner. Most broken marriages are rooted in the infidelity of a partner.
Sex
Sex is the union of two individuals in an intimate and passionate moment. This action helps fulfill what God wants us to do – to reproduce. Sex also helps a person fulfill the need for intimacy and warmth from the partner.
Forgiveness
Mistakes are sometimes inevitable. Forgiveness goes with honesty and integrity in a successful marriage. Moreover, communication always provides a medium to let both parties tell their side of the story and find acquiescence on the matter. With this, the couple keeps harmony in their marriage.
Related: The Art of Apologizing and Forgiving in Marriage
Respect
A successful marriage is always rooted in respect of each other’s space, time, ideas, etc… A couple must know their boundaries and learn to give respect to their partner. This key is highly related to forgiveness and agreement.
Love
Love is the fuel that keeps the marriage going. If not for love, a couple does not find each other. It is the main reason why an agreement for a union in matrimony is decided. Love is the driving force of a successful marriage.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Hillaire Louis Jean is a relationship author and a senior pastor. He is the founder of the Church of God Prince of Peace, located in Miami, Florida. He is a graduate of Barry University with a Bachelor’s degree in Professional Administration. The pastor and author also received his Certificate of Adult Bible Studies from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He currently holds a Doctorate degree in Ministry in Theology.