We can’t change other people but we can choose how we treat and react to other people.
I recently watched a great movie on Pureflix called ‘How to train your puppy husband‘ I thought it would be funny as we currently have two puppies I am training and I would never train my husband. But it reminded me of an important lesson.
We can’t change other people, but we can choose how we treat and react to other people. When you’re training a puppy you are actually modifying how you treat and react to what your puppy does.
You should never try to train or change your spouse. But you can change how you treat them and react to them. We are to love God and love others as ourselves. So think about how you would like to treated and treat your spouse that way. If you want to be loved and respected, love and respect them. You can’t get what you don’t give. When has demanding, berating and manipulating ever really resulted in exactly what you wanted.
Forced behavior is never really what we want, what we want is for others to do things for us because they want to, so we must do that for others. If we want others to care for our needs and wants, we need to put the other person first and care for their needs and desires.
Love and respect can’t be given by force.