Charity
Charity
What did I learn from this weeks reading's? It's this, if we want to save our marriages we need to have love for our spouse, unconditional , Christ like love. If we want our marriages to last we need to reach out and hug our spouses when we feel like yelling. We must have patience for their weaknesses and quirks. We must decide that we will love them , even in those times when they are hard to love. Marriage is a school and we have the ability to earn doctorates in compassion, patience , unselfishness , self-control and charity. In Goddard book he writes " any time we feel irritation for each other it is an opportunity to grow. Irritation is an invitation to better thinking and acting .......When we feel any level of irritation God is saying " Hey here is you chance to become more like me !" " (1) Marriage can sanctify us!
Many heart ache in marriage comes from unrealistic expectations of
our spouse. We want our spouse to be like the characters we see in the
movies. Wives think their husbands need ripped abs and have the ability
to whip together a romantic dinner complete with a string quartet , rose
petals and string lights in less than a hour. When our spouses don't
meet our expectations we feel short changed and wonder what is wrong
with them.We may think we made a mistake and should not have married them. We might think that the perfect guy is out there just waiting for us. Of course we want our spouses to be good people and to make
good choices , but we have to realize they are human . God who is
perfect loves us with all our weaknesses of the natural man, we who who
are far from perfect should do the same for our spouses. Instead of
keeping a running tally of all the mistakes our spouses have ,we can
keep a list of all the good things they do . I want to challenge you my
readers and myself to do this. For one week keep a list in your journal
or note book of all the positive things you saw in your spouse during
the week. Did they make the bed, sweep the floor,read a story to one of
you kids ? Perhaps our Heavenly Father and our Savior is compiling a similar list
about us?
Goddard, Wallace H, PhD “Drawing heaven into your marriage: Eternal doctrines that change relationships”, 2009, Cedar Hills
What did I learn from this weeks reading's? It's this, if we want to save our marriages we need to have love for our spouse, unconditional , Christ like love. If we want our marriages to last we need to reach out and hug our spouses when we feel like yelling. We must have patience for their weaknesses and quirks. We must decide that we will love them , even in those times when they are hard to love. Marriage is a school and we have the ability to earn doctorates in compassion, patience , unselfishness , self-control and charity. In Goddard book he writes " any time we feel irritation for each other it is an opportunity to grow. Irritation is an invitation to better thinking and acting .......When we feel any level of irritation God is saying " Hey here is you chance to become more like me !" " (1) Marriage can sanctify us!
Many heart ache in marriage comes from unrealistic expectations of
our spouse. We want our spouse to be like the characters we see in the
movies. Wives think their husbands need ripped abs and have the ability
to whip together a romantic dinner complete with a string quartet , rose
petals and string lights in less than a hour. When our spouses don't
meet our expectations we feel short changed and wonder what is wrong
with them.We may think we made a mistake and should not have married them. We might think that the perfect guy is out there just waiting for us. Of course we want our spouses to be good people and to make
good choices , but we have to realize they are human . God who is
perfect loves us with all our weaknesses of the natural man, we who who
are far from perfect should do the same for our spouses. Instead of
keeping a running tally of all the mistakes our spouses have ,we can
keep a list of all the good things they do . I want to challenge you my
readers and myself to do this. For one week keep a list in your journal
or note book of all the positive things you saw in your spouse during
the week. Did they make the bed, sweep the floor,read a story to one of
you kids ? Perhaps our Heavenly Father and our Savior is compiling a similar list
about us?Goddard, Wallace H, PhD “Drawing heaven into your marriage: Eternal doctrines that change relationships”, 2009, Cedar Hills
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