What Really Matters

Before I married my husband I could have been labeled as having a “Type A” personality (still sometimes it rears it's ugly head). I was proud to say I was always on time, I gasped at the thought of clean laundry piled up on the floor, and my movies were always returned on time. Three years later, all I can say is at least he is still as handsome and good looking! Each Sunday we are literally running in the doors of church 10 minutes late even before we had Julia. Sometimes the laundry is put away but most of the time we hunt for socks in a pile in the floor. Rarely, our movies are returned on time.

These annoyances drove me insane, and I took it out on my husband. I spent many a morning with God trying to convince Him that my husband needed a BIG change. ”Please just make him take two extra steps to the laundry basket to throw his dirty clothes and that will make me happy”. Little did I know that while I prayed for my husband to fix HIS problem, God was unwinding MY problems. It is so easy to point the finger, and blame the spouse for the imperfections in a marriage. I would consistently tell my husband that “If only you would…then our marriage would be great”. I think if I was really quiet I could actually hear God laughing at me!

As I sent those prayers of pleading for a fix in my husband, God continually sent me a scripture to change my heart. For a long time I had this verse on a post-it note on our bathroom mirror because I needed to be reminded daily of what true love really was.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
~1 Corinthians 13:4

Even as I write this today, I have to stop and inhale this scripture reminding me to focus at what really matters. What matters is that that we spend our precious time as husband and wife glorifying a truly righteous and holy God and not on the fact that a dish is in the sink and the Christmas tree was taken down at the end of January.

I encourage you stop what you are doing at this very moment and pray for your husband and allow God to remind you of what really matters in His marriage. Thank God for giving you such a precious gift, a mate, someone who loves you despite your imperfections. Someone who yearns to encourage you as a woman, a wife, a mother and most importantly a child of God. What a beautiful thing God has given us in our husbands.