Day 2

Yesterday I posted about a new challenge that i'm participating in for the 14 days leading up to Valentines day. But i didn't realize until this morning that I didn't say anything about what day 1's challenge was. Oops! :o) So i'll start out by back tracking a little bit. I'll start by copying parts from the blog that started this challenge.

Day 1 (Feb 1) "Love is patient" Eph. 4:2
Patience helps you give your spouse permission to be human. Love is built on two pillars that best define what it is. Those pillars are patience and kindness. Choose to respond with patience towards your husband in all things.

In the book The Love Dare the challenge for day one is this...the first part of the dare is fairly simple. Although love is communicated in a number of ways, our words often reflect the condition of our hearts. For the next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative to your spouse at all. If the temptation arises, choose not to say anything. It's better to hold you tongue than to say something you'll regret.

Not long ago i had to really work on this one. Without even realizing i'd been doing it, i had become very negative when talking to my husband. He was the one person that I could just let it all out with and I got very comfortable doing just that. But i've put a lot of work and effort since then into holding my tongue and just staying quiet when the temptation arises. Now, that's not saying that I always accomplish this goal because that's just not the case. But it is something that I work towards everyday. So yesterday I worked extra hard on this and I think I made it through the day for the most part without speaking negatively towards him. As far as I can remember that is. :o)

Day 2 (Feb 2) "Love is kind" Eph. 4:32
Kindness inspires you to be agreeable. Instead of being obstinate, reluctant, or stubborn, you cooperate, you stay flexible. Rather than complaining and making excuses, you look for reasons to compromise and accommodate. A kind wife ends thousands of potential arguments by her willingness to listen first rather than demand her way.

The challenge for day two is...In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.

So today, you and i have to work at saying nothing negative again. I think the reason for this is, it can take a lot of days to teach yourself to not be negative! At least that's how it's been for me. But also, come up with something out of the ordinary to do for your spouse. For example, sometimes when Colby comes home at night he has a lot of work he has to do so i'll make him a pot of coffee for him to enjoy while working. This is just one example of something to do but find a way to get creative and make it your own. But whatever it is you come up with, make sure it's something special that he or she would really enjoy. If your spouse doesn't drink coffee, making some for them in the evening wouldn't be very special for them. :o)

Whatever it is you decide to do, feel free to leave a comment and let me know you're following along with this challenge and how you did today. I'll update tomorrow with what I decided to do for Colby!