I LOVE Mondays now that I am a full time homemaker! The last 10 years I have dreaded Monday morning because it meant crawling out of bed, getting ready and heading to work.
The last six months I have spent Monday at home with Jeremiah, playing with him, cuddling with him, cleaning and doing laundry. I now find Monday to be one of my favorite days of the week!
I am thinking about writing a post every Monday about ministry or marriage. I cannot decide which one, so today I will do both!
Ministry
The last year God has worked in our hearts to pursue ministry full time. It has been a long process and I may share more details at some point! Needless to say, Saturday and Sunday are quite full now. Joel attends all three (soon to be four) weekend services at church. I serve at the early morning service on Sunday and we attend the second service together. It has been an interesting transition. I miss having all day Saturday to spend together.
Translation: I am selfish and miss having Joel all to myself.
God is teaching us that only what is done for Him and His kingdom are important. It is a blessing to be given the responsibility to minister to people. I love hearing the stories Joel is able to tell me about people he counsels. God is changing lives!!!
Why would I want my husband all to myself if he is able to do the Lord's work?
Marriage
Joel and I are not perfect. We do not have a perfect marriage. One thing you will never see on this blog and never in person is me criticizing or putting my husband down. (If you ever see it- confront me... seriously!) We made a promise before we were married that we would never do that. We must guard, with our lives, this precious marriage relationship that God has given to us.
I detest, even though that may be a strong word, when people make fun of their spouse, marriage, intimacy or anything related to marriage. There are, of course, funny things that happen between a husband and wife. There are funny characteristics about men and women that are laughable. I am not talking about good-natured teasing.
Marriage is a vulnerable relationship. Joel knows more about me, my weaknesses and my faults than anyone else. I trust that he will not expose my failures to anyone in anyway- seriously or joking about it. When I hear a husband or wife degrading their spouse in a light-hearted manor my blood starts to boil. It is not funny.
The world does a good job at degrading marriage. We should not be joining them. Marriage is a holy picture of Christ and the Church. We should do everything in our power to uphold that image to the world.
Think of the last argument you had with your spouse. Was it about something eternally important? Was it worth getting angry about? Were you being prideful and selfish?
Pray for your marriage regularly. Study the Word of God together. Do everything you can to cultivate the relationship you have with your husband or wife. Work on arguing less. Encourage one another more.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is worth it.
4 comments:
You are incredible...I'm so glad you've begun blogging again. I think this should be syndicated!
Keith and I live this way t it was once said to us that we are a pair of scissors, if anything should come between our marriage, cut it! We strive to remain close to one another and exemplify what marriage is in God's eyes. Never speaking negatively about each other in public, or other people.
Great blog today!
Love the nod to Ecclesiastes in the ministry part, and you'd better call me down on the Marriage part if you ever catch me making your blood boil. ;-) I don't like hearing spouses do that either, so help me make sure I'm not hypocritical!
Ooooh, right on, Sister! Good words regarding not speaking negatively about one another. I think for me it starts in my head.... "as a man thinks, so is he." Have you listened to Mark Driscoll's sermons from 1 Peter 3 on marriage? It's called "Women and Marriage" and part 2, "Men and Marriage." AWESOME. we love those. Be blessed, friend!
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