1. Take your prayer life and sacramental life seriously now
Set aside a daily time to pray, journal, read God’s word and seek God’s guidance for your decisions and struggles. Go to Mass regularly, be reverent and attentive to God’s presence in the Word and the Blessed Sacrament. Go to Confession monthly.
2. Seek godly married mentors
Look for holy married people that you look up to and ask them if you can spend time with them. Ask them questions about married life, observe how they relate to each other and to their children. Ask them for counsel when needed.
3. Be faithful to the duty of the present moment
God makes us holy as we say yes to him right now. He makes His will known to us in the duties and responsibilities of the present moment. That means making your bed, doing your chores, showing up to work on time, meeting your deadlines, attending your small group meetings, keeping your Lenten decisions, eating healthy meals and going to bed on time.
4. Start attending the school of love
You learn to love by loving. Ask your family members and the people in your life “How can I love you better? What makes you feel loved?” Make a note of their answers and use these tips to actively show love each day to them.
5. Work on your faults
Identify which fruits of the Spirit are missing in your life, reflect on 1 Corinthians 13, and actively start asking for and working on your faults. A spouse who is negative, harsh, anxious, impatient, unkind, short tempered, irritable, rude, critical, selfish, lazy or arrogant is not a godly spouse. Allow God to convict you and change you. If you’re not sure what your faults are, ask those whom you live with what they think you should work on.
6. Read and research what the Church teaches about marriage and family
To live up to a Christian ideal, you need to know what the ideal is. Read the section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church about marriage and family. Research any questions or doubts you have about the Catholic perspective of marriage. In many cases, it might be quite different from the world’s perspective and there might be some unlearning and relearning to do.
In what other ways are you preparing to be a godly spouse?
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