Marriage Reminders

Well, Tim stepped on lots of toes yesterday in his sermon on the relationship between husbands and wives. And mine needed to be stepped on. I need to be reminded to work on my relationship with Kregg. I need to be reminded for the 4,294,865th time (this month) that I cannot ever take him for granted. That is hard for me to remember because Kregg is so good and so stable and so dependable and so loyal. And so it is easy for me to let all the "crises" that we deal with as parents and shepherding couples cause me to forget my first job title in our home: Kregg's helpmeet. Tim told a joke, he always does, that went like this:


Man who has been married for years: "When we first got married, when I got home my wife would bring me my slippers and my dog would bark to welcome me home. Now my dog brings me my slippers and my wife barks." 


Sad commentary.


It wasn't enough for Tim to simply list the points he wanted us to consider and reflect on; he had us rate our "performance" in each area. Ouch! The areas he dealt with were these:

1. Communication
2. Compromise
3. Consideration
4. Commitment
5. Christ-centered

The one that really stuck out to me is #3. I realized how little I think about doing special little things for my sweet husband each day. I tend to be so busy with other things that I miss countless opportunities to simply show him how much he is appreciated. And, if I'm not careful, that lack of expressed gratitude can shift to becoming irritable about silly, inconsequential things. 

It was funny because the rest of the day, my sweet husband went out of his way to be considerate to me. (I'm thinking #3 got him, too :) In fact, it got to be a joke before long because he was taking it to such an extreme. So we laughed a lot at the silliness and often that is the best way to handle conviction and adjustment in our spirits as the Lord faithfully shows us areas in which He wants fuller obedience. 

Tim also made an excellent point for #5. He said when we are each filled with Christ, the Christ in me will be at peace with Christ in my husband. Christ in us will not fight and argue with Himself in our spouse. It's only when I get in the way--when I am full of self that there is anything to argue with. 


There go my poor toes, again. :)