Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

Let’s face it.  There are times that our spouses do things that really irk us and tick us off.  When this happens, you have a choice on how you respond.  You could immediately snap back with an attitude, but I can imagine the hard feelings that would come from this AND the fight that is about to develop from your lashing out.  Some people like to clear the air so they can quickly move past it, so addressing it works for them especially if they go into it with a little more of a loving response.  Other times, though, maybe it is better to just extend grace and not mention their shortcomings at all.

That is a hard one!

I’m not suggesting that you should brush something critical under the rug.  Not by any means!  But you truly do have to pick your battles.  Everything that your spouse does is not done to irritate you or annoy you.  Some times things just happen.  Don’t try to analyze the motive behind the actions.  Just realize that they are just as human as YOU are.

As Cindi put it in the book, for every five things that Hugh does that annoys her, she probably does ten things that annoy him!  Often times we do not want to see this in ourselves, but it’s true.  We’re only human, too, and there will be times we irritate our spouses.  That is why it is so important to extend grace in your marriages!  Be quick to extend grace and forgive your spouse, just as you would like your spouse to be quick to extend grace and forgive you.

There are far greater things to exert your energy on in your lives and in your marriage.  Fighting should not be one of them.  Quickly resolve the issue, even if that means overlooking and not commenting on something that irks you.  Take a deep breath in, blow it out, and let all of your anxieties go with it!  Then you’re free to move on humbly to more important issues.

Love never fails, ladies and gentlemen.

Join us tomorrow for … Taking A Walk

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