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Unhealthy behaviors are like weeds that grow alongside planted crops. They drag with the plant the nutrients available for growth and this prevents the plant from growing as well as it ought to.
Everything created by God is GOOD. He created family/ marriage to be our safe heaven on earth but due to the presence of weeds (unhealthy behaviors) exhibited by members of the family, our present day families have now become like battlefields.
In the bible, Apostle Paul talked about the importance of family and went on to emphasis on thinking properly before deciding to start a family: getting married is like adding additional stress in an already stressful time. You have to be completely prepared to put in the required effort to have a healthy family. Discussing with your spouse and finding out the behaviors that they find irking should be a priority. The following are some unhealthy behaviors that should not be in a family;
- Looking outside for what is lacking in your marriage.
- Doing things single people are doing that married people should not be doing.
- Disrespecting your spouse.
- Fighting.
- Improper communication (verbal and non-verbal communication).
The verbal communication has to do with the words/information you are passing across to your spouse or children, while the non-verbal is how you deliver this information. Are you expressing yourself calmly or harshly?
Expressing yourself the wrong way would lead to misunderstanding, you have to be able to express yourself calmly. Your spouse will process whatever you say under a harsh tone harshly. And whatever you say calmly to your spouse would be processed and understood calmly.
Peace in the family means peace in the society for a healthy family will produce healthy children that will go into the society and make proper decisions.
Next week we will be discussing some communication strategies we can learn from the bible.