Is That A Log In Your Eye?

"All of the charm and beauty of a woman may have amounts to nothing if her ambitions are self-centered. But if she reflects her Creator and assumes the posture of a graceful servant, she cannot help but command high respect and love." ~Jeanne Hendricks



I love my husband. He works hard to provide for us. He takes good care of me. He takes good care of my arrows. He loves the Lord. All that is nice and good, but it is those little 'quirks' or 'imperfections', that remove his luster sometimes. You know, the quirks and imperfections that you found cute when you were dating or first married? Yeah, you know what I am talking about. They are the ones that are now driving a thorn into your side. They are the ones that have you grumbling and mumbling because you are allowing it to annoy you or drive you up the wall. They are the imperfections that have me falling to my knees in prayer for my dear, 'faulty' husband, because HE is the one that needs the prayer. HE is the one that has so much work that needs to be done on him. Sure, I am not without sin, but HE is really messed up, so I am being really selfless by asking God to help him and fix him, aren't I? NOT.

Dear Sisters, let us not forget Matthew 7:3:

3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

I am so guilty of seeing a speck in my eye, and accusing Tim of not just a plank, but plankS, in his. And, can I get an OUCH for the dose of medicine given by being called a hypocrite? OOOOUCH. Big ouch.

So today is about humbling ourselves before the Lord and asking for forgiveness if we have done what Matthew 7:3 suggests. It is about learning to ask God to change our hearts and our ways, instead of asking to have Him change our husbands. Oh, how I long to be humble in that manner. Oh, how I long to do right in my Father's eyes. So, right now as I searched for the perfect verse to add here, the Holy Spirit drew me to this in 2 Corinthians 11:30 (Read 11:16-30 to get the full idea of what Paul was sharing regarding his weaknesses):

"If I must talk about myself, I will do it about the things that show how weak I am."

Another whammy. I love how the Lord is growing me even as I type this email in the wee hours of the morning!


So, my husband's quirks, which shall remain unnamed, are the LEAST of my concerns. The funny thing is that I know I must have some really funky quirks and my husband never points them out! I know that he overlooks them, and sometimes even will work with them, so as to not humiliate me. Oh, how the power of conviction just washed over me as I typed that.

So, ladies, this is our challenge... to take a look at the planks... or in my case, logs, in our eye. To really be aware of our thoughts and tongue. To humble ourselves before our God, and yes, sometimes even in front of our husbands and ask forgiveness and repent. To be aware of actions. And, even take the next step and ask our husband's to hold us accountable for our tongues and our actions. I know once I did, after my sweet friend Julia suggested it, I experienced a really rough few days, because Tim was gentle in his rebuke, but the poor guy has a lot of things to be keeping me accountable for! I think he started to get overwhelmed with all my yuck and has taken a bit of a break, lol.

I ask you to please pray for me to have God humble me, break me, and remold me into a wife that is loving and gracious and meek. A wife that instead of seeing her husband's weaknesses, is fully aware of her own. A wife that seeks God's heart on how to deal with issues at home, that might seem bothersome to her, but make her husband who he is because God made him that way. Oh, yes, soften my heart towards my gift from you, My Timmy, Lord.