When words are accidentally spoken that hurt … when meanings are taken the wrong and dig deep … when plain exhaustion just hits you in the gut and leaves you breathless … when the crazy world pulls you apart while you are trying to stay together … it takes a lot of humility to step back and look at the situation through another’s eyes … and see the positive … to cling to the good … to love unconditionally and serve without fail …
… the blessed marriage is more than just getting by and being room mates … and when you know it is so.very.important to maintain and nourish and pray and dream together, you have to submit and be quiet and listen to God and let him lead. When half of our friends around us are stumbling away from marriage with divorce papers and a false hope for a broken future, it is a cold wake up call that marriages are failing at a rapid rate.
What is the key to feeling happy in marriage when you have every right to not be? To falling in love year after year – with the same person? To avoiding bitterness and resentment over a build up of years of unfinished disagreements?
Servanthood. Getting rid of an attitude of entitlement. Tossing the cloak of self pity. Turn it around and serve … as Jesus did. Is not motherhood and being a wife about serving? It grates against our natural, selfish desires but we are indeed called to love others, to be a servant of all. Have a blessed marriage …
I love what was written here at Femina:
“The happiest marriage in the world is not happy because there was nothing to resent.
It is happy because the giving, forgiveness, love, and respect
that are cultivated are like citronella plants to the mosquitos of bitterness and resentment.
When you are loving the Lord God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, loving your neighbor as yourself just rolls out naturally.
We are all fallen. We all fall short. We will never run out of things to resent each other for, just as God will never run out of things to forgive us for.
And so instead of holding a grudge and weighing our home down with anger … serve. Forgive freely. Judge less. Encourage more. Cook his favorite meal. Bless him. Step back and think before speaking. Or reacting. Show kindness and see what happens …
For my husband, I know he loves East Indian food – curry butter chicken, basmatti rice and Naan bread … I have never made it, never liked it until recently and never had the desire to cook it … but I knew it would be well received and show thoughtfulness (even when I would have rather stewed in my disappointment and moped around hurt and upset) …
…and do you know what happened to my attitude as I kneaded that dough and looked up recipes and searched the spice cupboards for the necessary ingredients?
I felt the frustration dissolve.
I felt my heart softening.
And I felt better about the situation.
The situation never changed – and it may never – but my attitude and feelings did.
My husband was blessed, my children saw the joy, and I felt peace.
A little Naan went a long way.
P.S. Would you like this recipe for the Naan bread? I would share the Curry Chicken recipe but I made it up from scratch and am not sure if it was the true, proper way to make Curry Chicken. It sure tasted delicious though!
But about that Naan bread … my children loved it and of course, Abby was impressed … (and so was I!).
Naan Bread from Allrecipes.com
2 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
1 cup of warm water
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of milk
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 eggs {beaten}
4.5 cups of flour
1/4 cup of melted butter
First, dissolve yeast in warm water and let it stand for 10 minutes (till frothy). Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and flour.
Knead for six minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth.
Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough. Pinch of the dough, about the size of a golf ball, and roll into balls and place on a tray. Cover with a towel and let it rise for 30 minutes or till double in size.
At this time, I heated up our BBQ grill (just a big flat cast iron skillet) outside and spread a little oil on the surface.
After the 1/2 hour of the second rise, roll each ball of dough into a circle and flatten with the palm of your hand. Drop them on the hot grill for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill and keep going until you have cooked all your bread.
Serve with your favorite dish and enjoy!
We had so many left over that I think we will toast them and slather them with jam in the morning for breakfast.
They are tasty!
by Gigi
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