Love is Patient

Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. (James 1:19)

THE DARE

The first part of the dare claims to be simple. We all know that words reflect our heart’s condition. The next day, demonstrate patience and refrain from saying anything negative to your spouse at all. If you become tempted, choose not to say anything at all.

THE OUTCOME

We aren’t a perfect couple by any means (is there such a thing?) but we don’t fight everyday. Due to stress from outside sources, we have found that our marriage really needs some work. I thought today would be pretty easy because Stoney was going to sleep most the morning (he works nights). Then he would have his SWAT training around 2. So he woke up about noon and already started being grumpy. I could just see the next two hours were going to be hard! When one of us wakes up in a bad mood, it’s a fight from the start. So he’s snapping and I just said that I didn’t want to fight and walked away. It did upset him but he quit. I didn’t even bother trying to tell him that he was upsetting me because then he just gets more upset and turns it on me that I’m too sensitive. I did have to bite my tongue today when I had to wash dishes. I felt he should have helped me yesterday while I was with the girl scouts and he was home by himself.

He knew that I needed to eat this afternoon because I was feeling faint. Instead he decided that we were going to run to the store since we were already out. He wanted to look for an organizer. Well he walked out after some time, with a bag of cat food. It was frustrating because I really needed to eat. So we go home and he sits down to read the paper. That is when I started doing some of the dishes so I can clear the counters to cook. I wanted to get upset with him but I ignored it. I just did what needed to be done. He eventually came over and helped me. After that we were able to sit down and enjoy our time together. We even got lucky and his SWAT training was cancelled. So that gave us even more time together!

He did have to go to work so I couldn’t enjoy my time with him. But I am going to bed tonight feeling so great about us. I have realized that just because you don’t think your marriage is in trouble, doesn’t mean it doesn’t need work. Marriage is something that should always be improved upon. So I’m going to continue to learn about true unconditional love through this 40 day challenge!

If you are participating in this challenge and would like to share your link with us, do so here.