GPS to a Joyful Marriage

Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." I hope that your Christmas was filled with joy at the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  May you find the time to glorify our God in the highest as you give thanks for His grace on you this holiday season and throughout the year.  May your New Year be filled with peace and His favor in all you do.

Unable to shake my thoughts on expectation this last week, I’ve taken them to a deeper level for you to ponder.  What are your expectations of God? I looked up the meaning of expectation and here is what I found: Expectation – the act or the state of expecting – to wait in expectation.  The act or state of looking forward or anticipating. An expectant mental attitude. A high pitch of expectation.  A prospect of future good or profit. Notice that expectation is a passive word.  It dwells in our mind.  We are waiting for something and trying to figure out how it will unfold.  It’s synonymous with the word anticipation.  The anticipation of something usually involves more drama, more anxiety, and more excitement than the event itself. If you’re someone like me, you spend way too much time thinking about what’s to come.  The expectations of life and of God can be overwhelming.  I tend to over-analyze everything.  I ...

I’ve been thinking about expectations of a different nature this week – the expectations we have of the holidays.  We all have our own ideas of how the Christmas season should play out, and I believe most of us try to duplicate that scenario as closely as possible. I fondly remember spending Thanksgiving with my mother’s family, Christmas Eve with my father’s, and on Christmas Day, we would stay home, and my grandparents would visit us.  Often, we would also have Christmas parties with my mother’s family.  New Year’s Eve involved a huge party with my dad’s family and friends where children were included – always the highlight of my year. After my parents divorced when I was sixteen, it all ended.  I’ve finally realized, in the past few years, that I spent most of my adult years trying to recapture those memories of my childhood. I loved Christmas when my children lived at home but still struggled, as an Air Force family, with living away from the rest...

I believe that one reason we find ourselves in silly arguments that easily escalate into full blown fights, is that we don’t voice our expectations with our spouse.   I find that, occasionally, I will come to a conclusion about a situation, in my mind, and neglect to tell my husband, or even other people, what I’ve decided.  I move on assuming everyone knows where I’m coming from.  Of course, my husband should be able to second guess my actions; we’ve been married for thirty years!  (Ha ha!  That couldn’t be further from the truth!)  Needless to say, things don’t get completed very efficiently when no one knows what you expect, and a situation like this easily turns into a fertile breeding ground for arguments. Recently, we were in a social situation and nearing the time to leave.  I am such a people person that at a party, I want to talk to everyone.  It seems that Rick thought we were leaving and got upset with me when I wasn’t right b...