I follow this devotional on Facebook called: More Than
Enough, It is FULL of encouraging thoughts/reminders for the day. And I came
across this:
1.
When I get frustrated when no one else
helps out around the house or my job, I'll remind myself that Jesus came to
serve, not to be served (Mark 10:45)
2.
When I want to yell and give people a
piece of my mind, I'll remember Jesus stood quietly before His accusers (Isaiah
53:7)
3.
When I want things to go my way, when I
get cut off in traffic, when someone constantly interrupts me ... I'll call to
mind that the Word says to put others first (Philippians 2:3-11)
4.
When humility is the last thing I want
to choose, I'll rely on God's promises that He hears my prayers when I'm
humble, pray, seek Him and repent (2 Chronicles 7:14) and that He gives me
grace when I'm humble (James 4:6). Those are pretty amazing!
The one that I struggle with most, esp. in my marriage is
#3. I remember The Lord calls us to put other first, Philippians 2:3-43
Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to
the interests of the others.
Jordan and I are both “babies” of our
family, and as most of you know, this comes with a label of thinking the world
revolves around you. And in our case, most of the time we do feel this way
(just being honest here- don’t judge me). On a daily bases I am torn between
doing what I think we should, and what my husband thinks we should do. We
struggle with what should go in the front room of our home, what we should
spend our money on, what we should do on the weekends, and how we should spend
our time together. Over the past 6 years together Jordan and I have been
learning to make compromises along the way, and the majority of those changes
have occurred over the past 2 months (of marriage). I have had to learn to
compromise on what I deem as important to what BOTH my husband and I deem as
important. I have had to watch what I spend, because there is another person on
the other end, who is just as worried about our bills/shopping/eating as I am
(probably even more).
I personally think when you start to
put the other person happiness above yours, you start to do things you wouldn’t
normally do, in a good way that is. You start to go to things you don’t want to
go to, you stop buying things you thought you once needed or start buying
things for that matter, you start going out on dates, you spend more time
together. That old saying “happy wife, happy life” also goes for “happy
husband, happy life” too. And I think it needs to be even. What you see as
important, may not be as important to your husband. But why not sit down and
talk it out? Find out what makes the other one tick… Find out how you can honor
your husband/wife with acts of kindness or words of admiration. Putting your
husband/wives happiness above your own becomes your happiness too! I am not
saying to not take time for yourself, to go get massage, or your hair done, or
go hunting in Jordan’s case. But I am saying, to be like The Lord would want us
to be, putting others above ourselves!
