What is most important?

” One of the saddest reasons a marriage dies is that neither spouse recognizes its value until it is too late.” Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

“Too often a good marriage is taken for granted rather than given the nurturing and respect it deserves and desperately needs.” Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

Both of these quotes stuck out to me as I am currently dealing with this in my own marriage. Last week talked about how tomorrow is never guaranteed and I would like to expound on that a bit more. Are we really giving our marriages what they need or are we taking it for granted? Something my husband recently told me about buying a birthday gift or card before buying something for a volunteer work project was that I will always be around, the project will not be. What ended up happening is I did not get anything for my birthday and that hurt me. It was putting work before me. 

I once read a story about a husband who worked long hours to save to have a nice retirement, but he was barely at home and the couple became strangers. The husband had been neglecting his marriage in his pursuit of having a nice retirement. The therapist asked him “what is the point of saving for it if you will have no one to go with?” This also goes into tomorrow not being promised, she could easily become sick and pass away before he retired. 

In both cases the marriage was taken for granted thinking that there is plenty of time. Are you spending the majority of your time on meaningless things? You cannot take money or possessions to heaven, only your family so should they not get your best?

Here is an amazing video about priorities and what is important.