Today, in my prayer group, we discussed the importance of the husband-wife relationship and how it relates to parenting. We had a lively discussion, however it was what was shared at the end of the session that gave me pause to think...
The leader spoke about a couple who have been married for fifteen years and have eight children. What impressed my friend is not how many children this couple had ,but the relationship the husband and wife have, and how it permeated throughout the family. She asked the wife how this occurred with all the responsibilities and busyness a large family entailed. The wife told my friend their husband-wife relationship was not always that way. About five years ago, she started to respond to his husband with a different approach; with love, the love described in Corinthians 13:4-7. She made the change internally and did not discuss it with his husband. Eventually, he began to respond to her love, and transform his behavior in kind.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
So, when my husband walks in the door tonight, what will be the tenor of my greeting to him?
Patient or irritable?
Kind or rude?
Humble or pompous?
Calm or quick-tempered?
Resentful or forgiving?
Hopeful or disencouraging?
I, as a wife and mother, will set the tone in our home.