With the Thanksgiving holiday just behind us, it is only fitting that I write about one of my greatest blessings — my husband, Estith. It is also fitting because our sixth anniversary is tomorrow, November 25th, and his birthday was one week ago today. I guess you could easily say that this is my season for celebrating him!

In a culture and time that seems to have little respect for marriage, I am extremely grateful to have a loving husband who is worth celebrating! I can remember in the year or two after our marriage, people would always comment on the little kindnesses we showed one another or the goofy way we acted around each other and say, “They’re still newlyweds. Give it time. They’ll grow out of it.”

Well, I’m happy to report that six years later, we have not grown out of it, and we don’t have any intentions of growing out of it either. We still enjoy being with each other as much, if not more, than when we first married, and we still act pretty silly at times.

We dance around the kitchen. We laugh uncontrollably. He still calls me “princess” and also puts up with the wide array of goofy pet names I’ve come up with for him.

We also have some daily routines. I stand and wave at the window each morning as Estith pulls out of the driveway for work. We blow kisses at one another, and he flashes his lights at me. And at the end of the day, I race to the door to give Estith a kiss and a hug when he gets home. This has been our routine for six years.

And while six years may not qualify me as a seasoned expert in all things matrimonial, I do know one thing. When you “act” as though you are in love with your spouse, when you do special things for them and try to treat them with the same love and joy as when you first met, the feelings will often follow. This is a little something that I learned from C.S. Lewis’ book “Mere Christianity,” which changed my view of love from that of a feeling to a choice.

Lewis says:

Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.

The word ‘neighbor’ could easily be replaced with spouse, sister, brother, etc. But as it regards marriage, the more you behave lovingly toward your spouse, the more you will come to love him or her. That’s why I intend to keep waving my husband off to work each morning and giving him hugs every opportunity I get. If I do, maybe the next six years or even the next sixty will have us still making people marvel at our love for one another.

 What one thing could you do to behave lovingly toward someone today?