The first would be humility. We don't hear that word very much but Gary and Betsy Ricucci used it A LOT. They thanked us for humbling ourselves and attending the conference. (I hadn't thought much about that. I was humbling myself to sit underneath their teaching. And perhaps, just perhaps, those who could come up with a million excuses not to go maybe were a tad bit prideful... perhaps?)
They talked about being humble with our spouses. That can be manifested in several ways. Maybe there's something heavy on your heart, but you're afraid to share it with your husband because he might think you're overreacting, or oversensitive or simply foolish. If it's heavy on your heart, however, it's best for you to swallow your pride and share it. One-ness happens when we share.
Or maybe your husband would really be blessed if you tried something new with him. Maybe you're scared of this new thing (perhaps that fear is of failure or of embarrassment?) It would be best for you to humble yourself, not worry about what others think, and go for it.
I've had to humble myself in this regard, lately. Ross loves to bike ride and for his birthday, I bought him a trailer for Caleb to ride in. Ross wanted it to become a family affair. And I am, honestly, afraid of bike riding. As a little girl, I had a few too many accidents. But about a month ago (before it got so dog-on hot) I humbled myself and got on a bike. And actually had fun! : )
Maybe humility looks like admitting to your husband that you don't how to do something, or that you don't really like your job, or that you don't have all the answers.
I've been doing my best to apply this the past couple of days. We've had a good conversation about an area of sin in my life. Another productive conversation about sex and yet another conversation about areas in which we'd like to grow in our relationship with the LORD. All of that good conversation, all because of humility.
Another way that humility can be used to bless marriages and one that Ross and I are still looking into/working on is the idea of sharing your marriage with others. Everybody at church could easily say that we are sinners and we have an imperfect marriage. How come we're pretending to be perfect, then? The Ricucci's urged us to find another couple (or 2 or 3) to be real with- to humbly talk through our struggles with.
What great ideas!
I Peter 5:5 says
"In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Who doesn't want God's favor in their life- especially in their marriage? : )
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