Love Is A Choice In Marriage And In Life

Tobin Crenshaw
3 min readAug 9, 2020

--

There is one minute in the day that research shows is the most crucial to a healthy marriage. It is not when you wake or go to sleep; it is when you come home at night. The first minute a couple spends together is the most important moment of the day.

Years ago Max Lucado called it the “ten minute rule.” It is crucial to understand how important the first moments together each evening really are; indeed they set the tone of your marriage. What does this look like?

This means for ten minutes upon reuniting there can be no talk of work, bills, kid problems, in-laws, your boss, some rude driver on the road or anything else other than what will build up your partner and relationship. It means before you walk in the door you put yourself in a powerful, loving state.

When you understand that every person on the planet is driven by the need for love, then you can see that in the moments you spend together with your partner you are either fulfilling one of their deepest needs or taking it away.

Millennia ago Aristotle said that people are social animals. We have an innate need of one another.

Find someone who is lonely and you will find someone who needs to give more love, because what you give will return to you. If you want more love, then know everyone else on the planet does as well and work to give out as much as you can and the quality of your life will change.

Why is love such a high need for the human personality?

There was a time for everyone that love was given unconditionally, and a majority of human behavior is an attempt to regain that perfect gift.

Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of people experienced unconditional love from their mother, at least for a short time.

When you were born you had massive amounts of love and attention given by your mom, and you did not need to do anything to receive that love. She was there to hold and comfort you and came at your beck and call to care for your every need. In a very real sense, this was heaven.

But it was short lived, because at some point you heard a word that shocked you, she told you ‘no’. Suddenly she didn’t give you exactly what you wanted, and you learned (rightly or wrongly), that from that point on to get the love and approval you once received so effortlessly you had to perform.

But now it is time to stop believing that love is performance based. Understand your need for love, your partner’s need for love, and become a giver.

Instead of seeking love for yourself, seek to give love because at your heart it is a part of who you are. And in return, you will find everything you were ever looking for.

--

--

Tobin Crenshaw
Tobin Crenshaw

Written by Tobin Crenshaw

TOBIN CRENSHAW is a strategic interventionist and graduate of Robbins-Madanes Training. A former Marine, he completed graduate studies in theology.

No responses yet