Seeds of Discontent

Each program intended to build up and edify
Instead sows seeds of discontentment
Bringing a bountiful harvest of discouragement
 
Discussions on what a perfect marriage and family should be
Serve as a reminder
That reality often differs from the ideal
 
Examples on how to be a better husband and wife
Instead highlight imperfections
In the spouse that God has given us
 
Perhaps the better route is to read the manual given by our Creator
Let God guide and direct us through His word
Speak to our hearts through prayer
 
We’ll likely find God requires us
To remove the beam from our own eye
Before removing the speck from our spouse’s eye
 
Marriage a tool in the hand of God
Used to buff out our sin nature
Make us more like Christ
 
God cares more about our holiness than our happiness
But we can achieve both
When we yield to the hands of the Master
 
By Susan Bunts Wachtel
May 11, 2010
 
Do you ever listen to Christian radio programs about marriage and family only to find yourself discouraged because your life is not quite the ideal that they are portraying?  Sometimes I’ll be listening to a list of things that my husband should be doing, according to the resident expert, and realize that Chris is not living up their checklist.  According to their list…I’m falling far short of what it is to be an ideal wife.
 
I have no doubt…that we are both a work in progress.  That God is in the process of forming and shaping us and using our spouse as a tool.  Sometimes it’s a painful process.
 
Perhaps it’s time for me to fast from a few of the marriage and family programs.  Instead, pick up God’s word to see what He requires of us.  Take up the challenge to pray for my husband, instead of comparing him to someone else’s checklist.  Ask God how I might encourage Chris in his quest to be the man and the husband that God wants him to be.  Read what God requires of me as a wife and seek God’s help to walk according to His plan.