Fight Number 37

My husband Fred and I don’t have many fights. We just have the same fights over and over and over again. “Oh, yeah, here comes fight number 37, whipping around the bend … we know this script by heart …”

– He tries to say something important but doesn’t quite get the words right.
– I’m ‘the verbal one’ and words are important to me. His words, meant to bless, hurt me.
– He tries to clarify and “fix things.”
– This comes across as backpedaling and feels insincere to me. (I.e., “You must have really meant what you said the first time because otherwise why would you have said it?!”)

Sadly, this little pattern can go on for days and really put a damper on our friendship and intimate love. Of course it takes two to tango — but what I see most is my “thin-skinned-ness” that ought to be quick to overlook, slow to take an offense, and extremely charitable to my beloved husband. But in my sin and immaturity I often make things much worse.

By God’s grace, may I grow in true, abiding love!

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (emphasis added)