Anyone who has ever ventured into the home of a many years' happily married couple has probably seen the Happy Marriage Recipe hanging in the kitchen.
You know the one, it lists several "ingredients" just like a regular recipe, but the ingredients are love, hope, tenderness, forgiveness, warmth, faith and laughter.
It even lists how many cups of each and how to "mix" the ingredients.
It may seem like a silly thing, but there is some credence to the Happy Marriage Recipe that should be considered as you create your own recipe.
The first ingredient listed is always love.
Now love can mean many things to many people, but let's look at it paraphrased from Webster's.
Love is a strong affection, warm attachment, devotion, tenderness and admiration for another.
Keeping love, in its' many forms, in your happy marriage recipe will hold on to those things you feel so deeply for your spouse.
Remember the affection you feel toward your spouse and your devotion and attachment will continue to grow.
The definition of love, itself, covers warmth and tenderness, so let's take a look at hope.
Hope, when it comes to your marriage, is vital.
Without it, there can be nothing to look forward to.
Many couples find themselves hoping to have a better marriage, or a stronger one.
Maybe they hope to have children, or they hope to someday afford a home.
Hope gives you something to look forward to and strive for.
A large and very important ingredient in any happy marriage recipe is forgiveness.
We all know that eventually we will do something that will hurt or disappoint our partner.
We ask for forgiveness, and for a truly happy marriage, forgiveness is given.
That is not to say that it will be given immediately, depending on the circumstances.
You may have to weather some foul moods for a while, but if your spouse is following the happy marriage recipe, they will find their way to give you forgiveness.
After all, someday it may be them asking you for forgiveness, and you need to find a way to do it.
In a happy marriage, faith in each other to do the right thing and make good choices is often taken for granted.
When it comes right down to it, faith is one of the most important bonds there can be between two people.
Maybe it's just the faith that one will go to work and bring home a salary, and one will stay home with the children.
This is not taking things for granted; it is simply having faith that the each will perform to the other's standards.
Finally, laughter is often listed as the last ingredient in the happy marriage recipe.
However, it has been found that laughter in a marriage keeps people together.
It may be just laughter at a silly joke, or maybe some crazy antic by the cat that resulted in a broken vase.
Finding ways to laugh about things that may make you want to cry instead, can be a magical cure-all to a tough situation.