For this book reading, each day will contain three very important element;
First, a unique aspect of love will be discussed.
Second, you will be given a specific dare to do for your spouse.
Last, you will need a journal to log what you are learning and doing and how your spouse is responding by answering the 'question of the day'. These note will record your progress and should become priceless to you in the future.
The entire book will not be published but every chapter will be
previewed and I strongly recommend that you get a hard copy for future
references.Ensure that you do not miss any part of this book reading. Enjoy!
DAY
17: Love promotes intimacy
He who covers over an offense promotes love,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
—Proverbs
17:9 NIV
You can be closed to a good friend you’ve known since
childhood or college days. You can be close to a sibling, your parents, or a
cousin who’s about your same age. But nothing rivals the closeness that’s
experienced between a husband and wife. Marriage is the most intimate of all
human relationships.
Each of us comes into life with an inborn hunger to be known,
loved, and accepted. The prospect of sharing our home with another person who
knows us down to the most intimate details is part of the deep pleasure of
marriage.
Yet this great blessing is also the site of its greatest
danger. Someone who knows us this intimately can either love us at depths we
never imagined, or can wound us in ways we may never fully recover from. It’s
both the fire and the fear of marriage.
If home is not considered a place of safety, you will both be
tempted to seek it somewhere else. Perhaps you might look to another person,
initiating a relationship that either flirts with adultery or actually enters
in. You may look for comfort in work or in outside hobbies, something that
partially shields you from intimacy but also keeps you around people who
respect and accept you.
Your mate should not feel pressured to be perfect in order to
receive your approval. Marriage has unloaded another’s baggage into your life,
and yours into theirs. Some of these secrets may need correcting while some may
just need to be accepted. In either case, you and you alone wield the power
either to reject your spouse because of this or to welcome them in- warts and
all.
This may be an area where you’ve really failed in the past.
If so, don’t expect your mate to immediately give you wide-open access to their
heart.
TODAY’S DARE
Determine to guard your mate’s secrets (unless they are
dangerous to them or to you) and to pray for them. Talk with your spouse, and
resolve to demonstrate love in spite of these issues. Really listen to them
when they share personal thoughts and struggles with you. Make them feel safe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
How much of
an effort is it for you to hold back from saying something, critical or
otherwise? What have you learned about your spouse today, simply from
listening?
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