The 7 Rings Of Marriage - 5 Day DevotionalIhe Atụ

"Learning and Loving Each Other"

My wife would be considered what some people call a “crier.” It doesn’t take much for her to get the “waterworks going,” as she puts it. To me, her tears often seem to come out of nowhere. This was especially true in our early years of marriage. From my perspective,there was nothing happening—at least nothing worthy of crying over.

But there she’d be, eyes welled up, fighting back tears until she couldn’t hold back anymore. It was a big point of frustration in our marriage. I was frustrated because I had no idea why she was crying. Even after finding out why she was crying, I’d be amazed and say to myself, “She’s crying over that??”

She was frustrated because she couldn’t control her emotions, and the more I asked and prodded and got frustrated, the more emotional she became. Sometimes she wouldn’t say anything. Over time, I’ve learned how hard it is for her and have tried to be more understanding. She’s learned how it makes me feel when I can’t help her.

We’ve both learned more about each other through the years, and we’ve learned to love each other through it. Maybe she was crying over spilled milk. It didn’t matter; my job was to love her. Maybe I was impatient. It didn’t matter; her job was to respond in love.

We must dwell with each other in understanding and respond to all situations in love.

Spend some time in prayer asking God to make you lifelong learners of each other and to allow you to truthfully speak and respond to each other in love. Read and meditate on the following verses: 1 Corinthians 13:1 and James 1:19.