The secret ingredient of a good marriage
Nov 18th, 2008 by Zigfred Diaz
When somebody in our famly gets married, our patriarch, my grandfather is always requested to give a speech on secrets to a good marriage. He always gives the same speech every time he is asked to speak on the subject matter.
For him, S.A.L.T is the secret to a good marriage . He explains by telling this story:
An old king one day asked his three daughters how much they loved him. The first daughter said that he loved his father as much as she loves all the gold in the kingdom. The second daughter said that he loved her father as much she loves all the silver in the kingdom. The king was so delighted with both of his daugters. Finally the youngest daughter was asked how much she loves him. The youngest daughter said that she loves her father as much as she loves salt. The king was furious with this response. He could not imagine comapring her love to that of the lowly salt. So she banished her youngest daughter to serve in the kitchen.
While serving in the kitchen, the king’s youngest daughter told the cook not to put salt in all the king’s dishes. As the days passed along the king slowly loss his appetite for the food that was served until finally he became very sick. When he asked the cook why the food did not taste as tasty as before, the cook explained that his youngest daughter’s gave in an instruction not to put salt in all the meal that was served before him. The king was furious so the youngest daughter was summoned. When asked to explain her actions she told her father that she was demonstrating how much she loved him. The king finally understood her daughter’s point. He finally realized that his youngest daughter loved him so much because he cannot live without salt.
With that introduction, my grandfather then goes to the main topic and that is the key to a successful, loving and a good marriage which is “SALT.” He then goes to the body of his message by giving meanings to each letter of the word SALT.
S - Share - Husbands and wives must share invidual blessing that they recieve with each other. They must share not only physical things but good experiences as well. They have to remember that when they enter married life, they are considered as one flesh. Sharing also speaks of helping each other with the burdens and responsibilities in the marriage.
A - Attention - Oftentimes we hear of spouses complaining that their respective spouses are not giving enough attention to them. The wife complains that the husband just comes home and sits in front of the T.V. Some husbands complains that the wife keeps on chatting with her friends on the phone. It does not mean that the couple should not spend some time with their friends or their interest. However take note that they must give the bulk of their attention to each other.
L - Live within your means - Most experts say that the leading cause of marital problems is due to the couple’s financial misunderstandings. To avoid this, before and even after marriage, each couple must sit down and work out a guideline on how they should handle money. Budgeting, savings and investments should be seriously considered by each and every couple to avoid money problems.
T - Trust - When you fail to trust your spouse it shatter his or her confidence thereby limiting his or her capacity to succeed in any endevour in life. That is why trust is considered as the foundation for any good marriage.
The principle of S.A.L.T may be simplistic but it worked for my grandfather and grandmother because they had a good marriage for the past 50 years. It is my hope and my prayer that you will learn something from it and that you will have a good marriage as well.
