{"id":3506,"date":"2016-07-07T15:07:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T20:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixseeds.patheos.com\/davewillis\/?p=3506"},"modified":"2018-11-15T13:25:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T18:25:08","slug":"how-to-have-a-happy-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/how-to-have-a-happy-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"How to have a happy wife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"happy<\/p>\n

When I was engaged and just a few days away from the wedding, my wise Dad said, \u201cSon, always invest the best of yourself into your marriage. Put your wife ahead of yourself. Strive to make her a happy woman. A happy wife creates a happy life.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

My parents have a wonderful marriage. They\u2019re best friends. They love each other AND they actually like each other too! They have the kind of marriage that made me genuinely excited about getting married someday, so I took dad\u2019s advice to heart. I\u2019ve found it to be completely true! When\u00a0my wife Ashley<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is happy, I\u2019m happy.<\/p>\n

Now, you might be asking, \u201cHow can I make<\/em> my wife happy?<\/strong>\u201d That\u2019s a great question, and a complicated one, because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible for one person to \u201cmake\u201d another person happy. In fact, when we expect a spouse to make us happy, both spouses usually end up unhappy. A lot of marriages struggle because both spouses are unhappy and blame each other for their unhappiness. Still, I\u2019ve learned that there are some very specific ways a husband can and should cultivate happiness and joy for his wife.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of my blogs and books contain lists of things to do, but I\u2019m going to do something different here. I\u2019m going to share just one thing<\/strong>, because I\u2019m convinced that if you\u2019ll do this one thing, it will create more happiness for your wife and more peace and joy in your marriage.<\/strong> I\u2019ve found we all tend to learn best through stories, so I\u2019m going to illustrate this one principle through a true story that just happened in our marriage\u2026<\/p>\n

Ashley and I recently had the opportunity to take on a project that would instantly bring a good amount of additional income. I wanted to do it! I was already mentally spending the extra money. The problem is that the stress and strain of this project was going to fall mostly on Ashley. She\u2019s already working so hard in so SO many areas and she doesn\u2019t have much extra margin to take on new projects. Still, she saw that I was excited about the opportunity, so to be supportive and encouraging to me, she agreed to do it<\/strong>. She\u2019s always so willing to support me (even when my ideas are bad)!<\/p>\n

As we started making preparations to begin the project, I sensed the stress she was feeling. She insisted that she was fine and willing to take on the extra workload, but I knew she didn\u2019t have peace about it.<\/strong> I made the decision to pull the plug. I knew that no amount of extra money would be worth taking joy or peace away from her. I told her that I didn\u2019t want to do it, because I\u2019d much rather have the extra peace and joy in our home than the extra money and stress. <\/strong><\/p>\n

I could see the weight of that stress lift off her shoulders and then she gave me that smile that still melts my heart every time!\u00a0Honestly, it was a no-brainer! That little bit of extra money wouldn\u2019t have meant much when I\u2019m at the end of my life looking back, but there\u2019s no price tag I could ever place on our relationship. Giving up this money was a small (but also a tangible) way that I could show her the place of priority she will always have in my heart.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s that \u201cone thing\u201d a husband should do to make his wife happy?<\/strong> It goes back to what my dad said to me all those years ago. It\u2019s simply to prioritize your wife\u2019s needs ahead of your own agenda. It\u2019s to show her that you value\u00a0your marriage more than your money. It\u2019s showing her that her happiness is the key to your own happiness. It\u2019s showing her that she matters to you more than anything or anyone else<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t \u201cmake\u201d my wife\u00a0happy, but I\u2019ve learned that I can fuel Ashley\u2019s happiness when she knows that I value HER\u00a0above any other relationship, pursuit or agenda.<\/strong> When she knows that she doesn\u2019t have to compete with my career, my hobbies or anything else to have the best of my time and attention, it gives her confidence and joy. When she knows that I\u2019m willing to sacrifice my own \u201cagenda\u201d for the good of our marriage, she feels protected and cherished. She deserves my best; not my leftovers. When I\u2019m willing to give my best, she\u2019s much happier\u2026and so am I.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more tools to help you build a happy, healthy marriage, check out my book\u00a0The Seven Laws of Love: Essential Principles for Building Stronger Relationships<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and our brand new online program at\u00a0FightingForMyMarriage.com<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

IF THIS POST ENCOURAGED YOU, PLEASE SHARE IT USING THE LINKS BELOW SO WE CAN ENCOURAGE OTHERS TOO!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can’t “make” another person happy, but if you’ll do this one simple thing, it could make a world of difference in your marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2136,"featured_media":6924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to have a happy wife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can't "make" another person happy, but if you'll do this one simple thing, it could make a world of difference in your marriage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/how-to-have-a-happy-wife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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