At the risk of dating myself… I went through my teen years loving some Pat Benetar. One of my old favorites of hers is a song that says “Love is a battlefield”.
Our marriages shouldn’t be a battlefield – full of anger, fighting, and pain – between husband and wife.
But there are battles we must be willing to fight to protect our marriage and our spouse.
The enemy has many tricks and plans to tear marriages apart. We see their effect on marriages around us every day. We must be alert for dangers and prepared to fight to defend what is ours.
Watch for unhealthy influences. Things that can bring potentially destructive content into our minds and our homes. Things which drain precious time from our families. This may be an addiction such as gambling or drugs. But it can also be hobbies, habits, even work. Anything that takes up most of our thoughts and time, stealing the life from our marriage. It is important to always keep a balance and remember our priorities.
We also have to look at those around us. Do our friends have good attitudes toward commitment, priorities, and marriage? Or do they undermine our marriage with negativity?
Never speak negatively of your spouse in public! We women are particularly guilty of this. Husband bashing seems to be a favorite past time in many female circles. Your job is to protect and defend your husband. To respect and support him. Not to shame or expose weaknesses. His secrets are your secrets. (Unless those secrets are dangerous to them, to you, or to your children!)
We both have roles as protectors:
Husbands are the head of the household. God calls them to protect against things that might bring harm to his wife, his family, and his marriage. This requires a strong mind and heart.
Wives – they can’t do this without our help! We must guard our heart against things that distort our thinking and cause us to place unfair expectations on our husbands. We must do our part to make our husband feel strong, appreciated, and respected.
TODAY’S DARE: REMOVE ANYTHING THAT IS HINDERING YOUR RELATIONSHIP, AND ADDICTION OR INFLUENCE THAT’S STEALING YOUR AFFECTIONS AND TURNING YOUR HEART AWAY FROM YOUR SPOUSE.
Hmmm… influences, addictions, or other things which might be hindering my relationship with my spouse.
This dare had me thinking of so much.
It had me thinking about how even seemingly innocent things can steal time and energy from our family and our marriage.
It made me consider how as a family we have greatly reduced our television times in the evening to spend more time together and getting things done around the house instead of staring mindlessly at the screen.
And it made me think about how careful we have to be to be sure our marriage relationship is one of our top priorities and that we give it the time and attention it deserves instead of taking it for granted and letting other things get in the way of nurturing our spouse and our marriage.
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