Home |

The secret ingredient of a good marriage 

When somebody in our famly gets married, our patriarch, my grandfather is always requested to give a speech on secrets to a good marriage. He always gives the same speech every time he is asked to speak on the subject matter.
For him, S.A.L.T is the secret to a good marriage . He explains by telling this story:
An old king one day asked his three daughters how much they loved him. The first daughter said that he loved his father as much as she loves all the gold in the kingdom. The second daughter said that he loved her father as much she loves all the silver in the kingdom. The king was so delighted with both of his daugters. Finally the youngest daughter was asked how much she loves him. The youngest daughter said that she loves her father as much as she loves salt. The king was furious with this response. He could not imagine comapring her love to that of the lowly salt. So she banished her youngest daughter to serve in the kitchen.
While serving in the kitchen, the king's youngest daughter told the cook not to put salt in all the king's dishes. As the days passed along the king slowly loss his appetite for the food that was served until finally he became very sick. When he asked the cook why the food did not taste as tasty as before, the cook explained that his youngest daughter's gave in an instruction not to put salt in all the meal that was served before him. The king was furious so the youngest daughter was summoned. When asked to explain her actions she told her father that she was demonstrating how much she loved him. The king finally understood her daughter's point. He finally realized that his youngest daughter loved him so much because he cannot live without salt.
My grandfather then continues to explain that the key to a successful, loving and a good marriage therefore is SALT. You have to love you spouse as much as you love salt. He then gives a definition for the acronym S.A.L.T.:
S - Share - When a man and a woman enter into married life, they have to remember that they are considered as one flesh. Each of them must not have a selfish attitude. Each one must share with each other whatever blessings may come to their life. If the husband or wife is invited to a fancy restaurant and taste a good meal, he should plan to bring his or her spouse there someday to share the wonderful experience. Sharing does not only speak about the blessings or the good experiences in life. There should be also a sharing of the burdens and responsibilities in the marriage.
A - Attention - While it is normal for the husband and wife to spend some time with their friends or their interest, they must give the bulk of their attention to each other. Sometimes the wife complains that the husband just comes home and sits in front of the T.V watching sports or the husband complains that the wife keeps on chatting with her friends on the phone.
L - Live within your means - Statistics has shown that the number one cause of quarrels between couples is money problems. Before and after marriage, each couple must sit down and set some guidelines as to how money should be handled. In order to avoid any serious conflict, a budget has to be set and expenses should be contained within the budget without also forgetting to set aside some money for emergency savings and investments.
T - Trust - This is the foundation for all a good marriage. This is so because if you do not trust your spouse, you shatter his or her confidence. If couples learn to trust each other then they will be more assured that they are loved and they will be more confident enabling each of them to achieve more in life.
You might say that the principles of S.A.L.T may be simplistic. However it worked for my grandfather and grandmother because they had a good marriage that lasted for more than 50 years. It is my hope and prayer that the principle of SALT will be applied to your marriage as well.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Zigfred Diaz blogs on making money online, SEO, investments, financial management, and other interesting topics. He has joined the Busby SEO Test contest. Check out his blog today at www.zdiaz.com

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE VISIBLE links (without "nofollow" tags).