It start with me and my relationship with Him.

I have been reading a book in Spanish titled "Married and Happy", the authors are a married couple who work as marriage counselors. The book tells the story of their own life and how they worked out their difference to live happy and help others. I got the book at a Catholic conference two years ago. I read a few chapters then, but somehow the book was abandoned on a shelf. Over the years I kept reminding myself that I must read that book. Perhaps there is something there that will help me. This week, I took the book once again and did not start at the beginning. I had read the few chapters twice and had not gone past that point. So I looked at the table of contents and chose to start at chapter 5, titled The house of "Self". Yes, I need to work on that. There are seven rooms in the house of "self" that need to be taken care of, in a balanced way. The rooms are family, work, soul, friendships, continual formation(education), and community. The authors go thru each area in the house of "self" and ask you questions. In what things I want to improve in each area? Why I want to improve in this? How will I accomplish this? When will I accomplish this?

Suddenly the book became more interesting to me. There are some areas I need to work in my own house of self. In order to do this I must first establish a general vision for my life. "Life does not consist in performing certain task, but in managing your time concerning your values.", states the author. Second step, is to establish a weekly schedule for time spent in each area of my house of self. And the third step is to enjoy your life today. Not worring about the past or the future.
The next chapter talk about your mental health. How to replace negative thoughts into positive thoughts. Another area that I must work on. The author give you different situations of negative thoughts and how to replace them with positive thoughts or actions. This chapter has helped me in how I see my husband. Looking at his positive side and not the negative.

Chapter 7 deals with how to reduce stress in your life. And now, I am reading chapter 8. In this chapter the authors talk about the Soul of autonomy. I was not familiar with the term. But I figured it had to do with self. So I looked up the definition and indeed it means, "self-goverment". According to the authors, "The soul of autonomy, is your spiritual center, the presence of Jesus in you. " " yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me;" Galatians 2:20. " How can the presence of Jesus increase in you, in order to be more like Him? Jesus defined himself like the way, the truth and the life. You can have Him as a role model.", stated the author.

Being more like Jesus is important. Jesus is love we should be love . What matters to God is how much we have loved. That is why he gaves us a commandment. "Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself." Mathew 22:37, and also, "Love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12
We need to live the will of God today in the present time. And we need to do everything with Love. As we spend time with Jesus in his word, listening and living what he teaches. Our life will be transformed in a positive way and will reflect to others. I am not finished with the chapter yet but I am now more interested in continuing reading it. I am slowly beginning to apply wath I am learning into my life. Starting with my spiruatual life. My relationship with Christ is very important for the success of all my other relationships.
Note: The title of the book in English is "Thriving Marriages", the authors are John Yzaguirre and Claire Frazier. You can link to their webpage for more information on their books.

Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart.