Marriage Articles

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your Husband?

What Do You Think When You Hear “Happy Wife, Happy Life”?

What Do You Think When You Hear “Happy Wife, Happy Life”?

You’ve probably heard the phrase “happy wife, happy life” before. Maybe it’s in the context of something simple, like choosing what restaurant to eat at or not leaving dirty clothes on the bathroom floor.

Why Does a Wife Not Hear That Her Husband Needs Respect?

Why Does a Wife Not Hear That Her Husband Needs Respect?

The idea of unconditional respect for the husband has always been the Love and Respect message’s unique feature, based on Ephesians 5:33. Many books stress Paul’s instruction for husbands to love their wives (“each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself . . .”), but few spend equal space if any at all, to the rest of the verse (“. . . and the wife must respect her husband”).

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your Husband?

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your Husband?

Many wives share disappointment that their husbands rarely talk to them at a deeper level. “Emerson, when we were dating, we used to talk long into the night getting to really know each other. What happened to him?”

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

In the beginning, after God had created Adam and placed him in the garden to cultivate it, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

In the Bible, we find two realities to which we are to respond: God’s commands and God’s promises. God calls us to obey His commands and trust His promises. Most of us have sung the song "Trust and Obey,” which captures these two quintessential truths.

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

A Cross-Cultural Message

Occasionally someone will say to me, “Emerson, I’m contemplating your theory of love and respect…and I think you may be on to something.” I smile at this but I also clarify that this isn’t “my theory”…this is a command from the all-wise God in Ephesians 5:33, and this is why it is a message that resonates around the world. It’s not a message exclusive to Americans, or a certain age group, or ethnic group. The Love & Respect message is for men and women everywhere.

A Cross-Cultural Message

It’s Not All About Me!

We’ve been talking about wedding anniversaries and romantic expectations… and how to get free from the blame game. Here’s a story from a wise wife who made a powerful discovery about her wedding anniversary:

It’s Not All About Me!

Two Simple Things That Speak Romance to Her

Two Simple Things That Speak Romance to Her

Men, you may not be as romantic as your wife (you sleep during the movie Sleepless in Seattle), but you are a man of honor, and a man of honor discerns the desires in the heart of his wife. Let me recommend two things that feed the romance for her: she needs predictable face to face time with you and she wants periodic surprises.

The Romance Game

Romance. Women generally want more of it…and men feel pressured to deliver. Why does it remain so elusive? Last week I shared how our different expectations as men and women can really mess up a romantic anniversary celebration. But this whole romance thing can get complicated for other reasons as well.

The Romance Game