A Little Catch Up

Christmas is not the best time to try writing a new blog!

This "Love Dare Thing", as my son refers to it, is worth putting my whole heart into. And I do not for one moment regret that I have started this journey. The only problem that I have had is finding the time to write about it.

OK, so maybe that isn't the only problem! I have not been good at doing one new Dare each day. Why? Mainly because I don't think I truly believed the book in the beginning when it said, "It is a challenging and often difficult process." Somehow, the idea of this process being "an incredibly fulfilling one" sounds so awesome that I just sort of skimmed over the challenging part. But here I am, three weeks into the Love Dare, according to the calendar, but only thirteen days into it, according to the book.

This is not just challenging. I mean, I like a challenge! This dare is HARD. Is it worth it? YES. With all my heart, I have to say that it is defiantly worth the time I put into it. I can already see changes in me, in my marriage, and even in the way my husband acts toward me. But to really show the love God desires for me to show my husband, I have to confront some things in myself that I'd rather continue to ignore.

For instance, Day Twelve of the Love Dare says, "Demonstrate love my willingly choosing to give in to an area of disagreement between you and your spouse. Tell them you are putting their preference first."

OUCH!

Why would I want to do that? Do his preferences matter that much more than mine do? Not really, by worldly standards. In fact, by worldly standards I am 100% in the right to say that my preferences are more important than his are. After all, doesn't the world emphasize putting ME first in everything?

Then again, that is where the problems of the world come from. When everyone puts ME first, it leads to millions of people thinking they are right and everyone else is wrong. Face it—we cannot possibly all be right all of the time. It's time to move past the "me first" mentality and get into a "God first" state of mind.

And that is what I intend to do this year.

I think the hardest part about putting my husband's preferences first for me is that I often feel like I already do that. There are a lot of areas in our life where I feel like it is what he wants that matters the most. Of course, I have this feeling that if you ask my husband, he will say that my preferences come first. So I guess what I really need to do is think about him, about the man God created to share my life.

There is one thing that I can really think of that I can do to show him that his needs and wants matter more than my own do. I have this horrible habit of not putting away laundry. If you go into my walk-in closet, you will see my husband's clothes hanging where they should be. But you will see my clothes piled up all over the place. On the dresser, beside the dresser, under the hanging bar, in corners. Some things have made it into the dresser, but they are not neat by any means. It annoys my husband that I live like that. It would be a good thing to do for him to clean up the closet and make an attempt at orderliness.