Close your eyes and see if you can you hear a recent conversation in your head . . . Someone you love, probably your husband, is telling a story in a group of friends and you observe that he made a small mistake on a detail -- well, of course, you do what any "good" wife would do -- you jump in and "fix" it for him.
Ohhhh! The second I do that, I find myself mentally stomping my foot and physically biting down on my tongue. Why did I do that again?, I fume at myself. Why do I think I need to be right??!!
A vicious cycle continues on . . . more "husband" stories, more "wifely" corrections . . . I keep learning the same lesson over again but it doesn't seem to stick in my head. (And I'm the same mom who feels frustrated when my kids have to be told something more than ONCE?)
I know my husband needs my honour far more than he needs my corrections.
In fact, if I could replay all those conversations, I'm sure I would experience heat flooding my face and tears slipping down my reddened cheeks for the embarrassment of how TRULY TRIVIAL all my self-important corrections were in hind-sight. I've heard that hind-sight is 20/20 and I'm sure my source of wisdom is correct.
I love my husband too much to keep on correcting -- "God, you've got to help me humble myself so I can keep my lips still in these moments of life." I'm capable of so much harm and so much good ~ all wrapped up in the package of one wife.
Do you know what's worse? Now my oldest children are getting to the age where I have more of the same opportunities with them. Oh, they just don't realize they're a little off on the detail, I'll just interject a bit of my "wisdom".
Oh, Kristen, don't you realize you don't offer anything but shame and embarrassment?
I desire to honour these precious people that God has placed in my life, but it requires self-control with my words. Who really cares if I'm right or not? Honestly? Only me. I need to decrease so that Christ may increase in my life.
"Don't be selfish; don't try
to impress others. Be humble,
thinking of others as better
than yourselves."
Philippians 2:3
I love this :-) I do the same thing. The frightening this is I passed it onto my now adult children lol They now correct me for my slipping in inaccurate details when I tell a story. It's been helpful though in my attempts to stop doing it because it doesn't feel so great.
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