We are coming up on Valentine’s Day and it’s a common time to think about keeping the flame alive. When Josh and I were newlyweds (ok, I guess being married <4 years still makes us newlyweds. It’s like when my students say, “When I was young… or when I was growing up…”) anyway, when we were first married, we attended a Sunday morning marriage class at church. One of our lessons was on “keeping the flame alive.” We were given this “cheat sheet” and it has hung on our fridge ever since. I don’t know who originally wrote it, but it’s good stuff. Too bad when we got it, Joshua instantly crossed out #41!

It’s written for a husband to do things for his wife, but it can easily be used the other way around. Click on the sheets below to download.

Sometimes Josh will be funny (or try to be at least!) and walk up to the fridge, point to #32 (smile more often) and look back at me and smile. He’ll act like he just did something so romantic. Or he’ll walk up to the fridge, point to #27 (Tell her yes when you want to say no) and say, “yes” even when I hadn’t been asking him a question! I say, “It doesn’t work like that!” Maybe you and your significant other can use it in the way it’s intended and have a little push in keeping the flame alive.

How do you keep the flame alive?