Strengthening Marriage- Lessons 2 &3

I missed writing about this last week, so here's two in one. Lesson 2: Communication Identify your ratio of positive to negative interactions with your spouse. See if your spouse agrees with your ratio. Find out from your spouse what a positive interaction entails. Identify what is negative interaction to each of you. Accentuate the positive/ Eliminate the negative. Each of you share one thing your spouse could do for you (change) that would make you happier. This is a positive thing to do frequently- but always 50/50. You share one, I share one. I got in trouble on this one. He had us do it right there: write down one thing they could do, then we went around the room and shared. Mine: Ken sit down, look me in the eye and listen, don't look at the clock. Ken agreed. Ken's: turn off the light when I leave a room. I mentioned to everyone that I call him the prince of darkness because he follows me around turning off lights. Shouldn't have said that! This week we had to report how we did on our request. That's all anybody remembered was me calling him the prince of darkness. Oh dear! Shouldn't have gone for the laugh! Lesson 3: Eliminate control: Fostering Equality and Unity Treat your wife as you would treat the Lord: respect, reverence, humility, etc. God has commanded us to love two people with all of our hearts: 1)Him ( Matt. 22:37) 2) Wife (D&C 42:22) Helpmeet=equal partner "Rule and reign" Rule means preside, not control. He had us each rate our spouse and how controlling they are on a scale of 1 to 10.