My worst enemy seems to prodding at my husband lately. In my thought life I have found myself majoring on the minors and letting my toxic thoughts affect my relationship with him.
When I say it out loud it sounds silly.
The ice cream dish in the sink… what a monster.
The hanger left out from ironing his shirt…he can’t get it together.
The shaving cream in the sink…what a despicable man.
These are truly the things that ruffle my feathers about my husband; dirty dishes, hangers and shaving cream. The toxicity in my mind no matter how much I hate to admit it contaminates my relationship with my husband. Sometimes I am mad at him before he even gets home from work because I have let my mind fester on these minor imperfections.
My worst enemy wins when I don’t fight against negative thoughts about my husband.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
I saw an image of my husband from this past Easter Sunday. He is an important man and just like all the other men of our church he was in his blazer, dress pants and pressed shirt on Sunday morning. However, he was not in the worship service, he was in a small room across the hall with the preschool children.
He was singing songs with them and laying on the floor with them, in his fancy Sunday clothes. I don’t know many people who are truly joyful about serving with children on Easter Sunday but he is and I know for sure you would not find me laying on the ground in my Easter outfit being silly with the children.
These are the lovely images and thoughts about my husband I am working to focus my mind on. The humble man laying on the ground with the tiny worshippers of our church, the mountain top moments where I can see the whole picture of who God is making my husband to be in Christ.
Your worst enemy might be attacking your husband too. Or maybe your roommate, your parents or your children.
How can you give them more grace in your thought life? Can you find a mountain top moment to battle the little annoyances that might go through your mind throughout the day?
I am battling to give my husband more grace in my thought life. To focus on the lovely instead of the dishes, hangers and shaving cream. He deserves for me to see him as Christ sees him. The redeemed prince, on the floor in his suit, praising Jesus with the little children.
Related articles
- Conflict Resolution (onewiththepastor.com)
- My Worst Enemy (onewiththepastor.com)
Rachel Craddock 
Lovely…Thankyou! 🙂
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You are so wonderful, Rachel. Please know how highly I think of you. Your honesty and openness is refreshing and I could learn – need to learn – so much from you. XO
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Kind of related, you just made me remember that it took my wife nearly twenty years of marriage to get it through my thick skull that she really, really, really loves me – even when she’s calling me a lazy so-and-so! And that, because I can absolutely rely on that love, I don’t need to worry about her changing her mind about being married to me, and I don’t need to hesitate about sharing big issues with her, because her love for me is strong enough to handle it all. (And yes, that all goes both ways!)Thanks for a great post!
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