When we go to bed angry, those
emotions seep into our subconscious mind and continue to affect our feelings
toward one another, even when the incident is over and past.
Our mate may have forgotten an
important milestone in our relationship, broken a promise made to us, let us
down, treated us with unkindness, taken us for granted, ignored us and gave
others the attention we needed, showed more chivalry to an acquaintance than to
us, said some harsh words to us that were unwarranted, etc.
I am wondering if we always act
perfectly, or if we need some grace and forgiveness at times as well. Our mate
may tolerate a great deal more negative behavior or attitudes from us than we
realize.
We have a choice to let Agape
love rule in our relationship or to allow Satan's lies to blow an incident up
out of proportion and rob us of the love God has for us from our mate.
Even if the event reaps dire
consequences that affect us as well as them, we are faced with the choice to
forgive. The alternative is to nurture resentment, but that will only serve to
defile everything in our relationship (Hebrews 12:15).
It is better to find time to
journal our feelings; to pinpoint the exact issue causing our hurt or anger;
and then to ask our mate for some quality time to logically discuss the issue,
when our emotions are not raw and before it has time to embitter us.
Prayer:
Father God, help us not to allow our time to get swallowed up by
chatting with friends or relatives on the phone, emailing, messaging or texting
via social media, etc.; so that we neglect each other. Sometimes we
give our vocation, pets,
friends
or children more attention than we give to one another. Help us to stop taking
each other for granted.
Remind
us that if we expect our love and our marriage to last, we can change a few of
our habits to include each other in the inner circle of
our thoughts and activities. Give us creative ideas to
show love to one another, such as: before one of us falls asleep, we can always
spend at least 15 minutes together snuggling and chatting with each other. Let
us see that this will give us the time to catch each other up on
our
concerns, talk about family issues that need resolution, or inform each other
about important future events
or our deepest feelings.
Thought
for the Day:
When
we frequently communicate what we appreciate in one another, encourage each
other through hard times and disappointments, or just stare into each other's
eyes as we kiss each other good night, we strengthen the love that we feel for
one another.
