patience

If you’ve been to a wedding, or googled Bible verses on love, you’ve probably heard this verse before. But for me, the biggest key for our marriage has been the first part, the patience part.  Not the patience in waiting for my wife to reapply her makeup, or the delay in her deciding what shoes to wear, or the time it took for me to get to know her family.  To me, love requires the same type of patience that our God has with us.  Our God doesn’t immediately strike us down for each of our faults, and we should show that same love to our spouse.  James says of patience, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”  To me, this is the key to a healthy and happy relationship.

The love is easy, the not envy part is easy {she’s your wife, what can you possibly be jealous of, if you are; buy her a bigger diamond}.  The difficult task is to be patient to put your spouse’s feelings before your own.  It’s only natural to respond harshly and quickly; letting your words cut into your partner leaving irreparable scars.  However, the true meaning of love, is taking the time {patience} to see where your wife is coming from, to see why she feels the way that she does and then allowing her to feel those feelings without consequence.  We have all had moments in our lives when we reacted on impulse and said/did things that we regret, and our God has forgiven us.  So my advice, encourage your wife to have her emotions, to have her feelings no matter what.  And to make sure she understands that even if you don’t get it right then, that you promise to take the time to see her side before you judge or respond.