Day 12

Day 12 (Feb 12) "Love lets others win" Phil. 2:4
Are you willing to bend to demonstrate love to your husband? Or are you refusing to give in because of pride? If it doesn't matter in the long run--especially in eternity--then give up your rights and choose to honor the one you love. It will be good for you and good for your marriage.

Day 12 challenge is...Demonstrate love by willingly choosing to give in to an area of disagreement between you and your spouse. Tell them you are putting their preference first.

Are you a stubborn person? I personally am a very stubborn person! I can form an opinion about something, or decide I want to do something that that's it. My heals are dug in and my mind is made up. End of story, this is what i want to do. Let me tell you, when your married, that does not go over well!

Quick example here...I love Christmas! It's my very favorite time of the year. Everything is bright and wonderful and happy. I love the music, the decorations, all the food, I just love everything about it. Colby however, does not love Christmas. He hates Christmas music and shopping and all the crowds of people everywhere. But he does enjoy his family gatherings and I enjoy mine.

Our first few years of marriage we ended up fighting hard about what we were going to do for Christmas. We both wanted to go to our families get-togethers and we both wanted different traditions to carry over with our kids. I can't even explain how hard we fought over this!

But it finally got to the point that we both decided to make a compromise. We figured out things we could live without and things we really wanted to have. Now we have come up with a plan for exactly how we're going to have Christmas and when we will get together with each of our families. We don't have to fight about it. We can both sit back and enjoy everything about the day.

Had we not taken a step back and been willing to give up "our way", we would still be fighting every single year about this.

Are there any areas in your day to day life that you fight and struggle with your spouse? If so, take the time to look at it from a different perspective and see where you can give up your way.

"No, you won’t always see eye-to-eye. You’re not supposed to be carbon copies of each other. If you were, one of you would be unnecessary. Two people who always share the same opinions and perspectives won’t have any balance or flavor to enhance the relationship. Rather, your differences are for listening to and learning from.

Are you willing to bend to demonstrate love to your spouse? Or are you refusing to give in because of pride? If it doesn’t matter in the long run – especially in eternity – then give up your rights and choose to honor the one you love."