Little foxes
of disagreement move into our marriage all the time. They burrow deeply in the
recesses of our mind and emerge now and then when they are disturbed.
They creep
in, bringing conflict in the areas of: finances, careers, children, addictions,
housekeeping, television preferences, habits, little inconsiderations, etc.
Occasionally
they ravage our soul and cause us to feel discouraged, disgruntled,
disillusioned, depressed, angry, exasperated or just plain ready to bury our
head under the covers and give up. This is a sad state of affairs.
Rather than
stuffing negative feelings inside to cause problems later, it is possible to
cleanse our soul of these little foxes and to persevere in our marriage by
logically talking about them as they arise.
God's Spirit
enables us to communicate with love in our heart for one another. We cherish
each other and desire to keep one another from feeling hurt due to our
frustration. He gives us hope for a new tomorrow devoid of these little foxes (Song
of Solomon 2:15).
We face the
unknown aspects of the future with more joy in our heart when we do not allow
the dross of our past (our individual and joint past) to weigh us down.
Hope in
Christ saves us, even when we can see no solution for our issues, especially
when we wait on Him together with a persevering attitude (Romans 8:24-25).
We lay our
life, our preferences, our goals, our solutions and our plans down for one
another, even making sacrifices for the greater good of our family, until we
come to a mutual agreement about any disagreements.
When we go
the extra mile for one another, it puts feet to our love and increases our affectionate
feelings for each other. It shows our spouse that what they consider to be
important is important to us as well.
Prayer:
Father God,
help us to resolve any conflicts lingering between us, so the little foxes do
not spoil our relationship. We do not pray for You to change our spouse, but to
change us instead. Give us the fruit of Your Spirit so that we can love one
another with Your agape love. Remind us that when we pray together, we learn
more about one another and how to communicate better with each other.
We promised
on our wedding day to endure in our marriage until death. Teach us to love and
honor each other as we love and honor You. Help us to pass down to our children
the example and the ability to persevere through trials. Teach us to treat each
other with kindness and preference, and to cling to one another, all the days
of our life together.
Thought for
the Day:
A kind
person is patient above all else in addition to being gentle, generous and
caring; Christ in us will teach us kindness and give us ideas for generous
actions, considerate behavior and encouraging words for one another -
especially when our soul - our thoughts, feelings and choices - does not feel
like it.
