Chapter 6 ~ Love is not, damn! Where’s my book? (pitiful)
Saturday, November 22, 2008 ~
To be irritable means “to be near the point of a knife.” Not far from being poked. People who are irritable are locked, loaded, and ready to overreact.” Stress and selfishness in the forms of lust, bitterness, greed, and pride are the twin contributors to my irritation.
I try to understand why he wants to linger with me here in this place of pain and sadness. Without a boat to paddle, I trudge towards that deep inner Still Small Voice. I do not trust any other voice. God Almighty is keeping an eye on what sort of confusing torture is strangling me and my family now. I said this in my letter to him, “I don’t want divorce.” And I read, don’t fight it or you will be shot down. It’s simply insane. Two people cannot agree—that is the bottom line. I agree with that. We are in separate corners. He is camping out there, and I am holding up a tent here. It’s going to take more than 40 days.
The Love Dare Day 6: Love is not irritable
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city. Proverbs 16:31Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list below of areas where you need to add margin to your schedule. Then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life.
____ Check here when you’ve completed today’s dare.
Where do you need to add margin to your life? When have you recently overreacted? What was your real motivation behind it? What decisions have you made today?
The Word and worship—I overreacted when I asked to borrow his Leatherman when he said, “Make sure I get it back” which flipped a switch in me. My real motivation was pride and anger. In response to this unfair assessment, I lashed out, refusing to work through my anger. We know that: The heart of the problem is primarily a problem of the heart.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).
Pride leads you to act harshly in order to protect your ego and reputation.
A bitter person’s unresolved anger leaks out when he is provoked (Ephesians 4:31).
I decided to forgive myself and forgive him. Let love guide and pray through anxiety. “Do you remember the time we fell in love, do you remember the time we first met” ~Michael Jackson
I always do my best to have a clear conscience toward God and men. (Acts 24:16)
The Love Dare
Copyright © 2009
by Stephen Kendrick & Alex Kendrick
B & H Publishing Group
Nashville, Tennessee
Comments