The Love Dare, Day 7

Love believes the best...

"[love] believes all things, hopes all things"-Corinthians 13:7

Ok so in the deep and private corridors of your heart there are these two rooms:

The appreciation room- Where your thoughts go when you encounter positive and encouraging things about your spouse. On the walls are written kind words and phrases describing the good attributes of your mate. These may include characteristics like "honest" and "intelligent" "good worker, wonderful cook, beautiful eyes" These are things you discovered about your husband that have embedded themselves in your memory. Thinking of these things makes you happy and your appreciation for your spouse begins to increase. You once spent a lot of time in this room while dating. Thinking about how great he really was. Many people don't visit this room as much as they once did. And that is because there is another room nearby...

The depreciation room- On these walls are written the things that bother and irritate you about your spouse. These things were placed there out of frustration, hurt feelings and the disappointment of unmet expectations. This room is lined with the weakness and failures of your husband or wife. The bad habits, hurtful words, and poor decisions are written in large letters that cover walls from one end to the other. Staying in this room long enough makes you depressed and start expressing things like "My wife is so selfish" or "My husband is such a jerkwadd" or even "I think I married the wrong person". Hateful things are written in this room, where tell-off statements are rehearsed for the next argument (guilty). Emotional injuries fester here, adding more scathing remarks to the walls. IT IS WHERE AMMUNITION IS KEPT FOR THE NEXT BIG FIGHT (ya mom) and where bitterness is allowed to spread like a disease. People fall out of love here, divorces are plotted here & violent plans are schemed here.

While things in the depreciation room are true, so are the things in the appreciation room. Everyone has unresolved issues and hurts. This is a sad aspect of being a human being.

Love knows about the depreciation room and does not live in denial that it exists. BUT LOVE CHOOSES NOT TO LIVE THERE!!

Wow this one really hit home with me, and all my buddies going through the same things I'm going through. I spend way too much in the Depreciation room :( Truth be told my husband is wonderful, thoughtful, a good father, & he makes a mean breakfast. I love him and my marriage is worth spending a little more time in the appreciation room lol.

Day 7 Love Dare:

FOR TODAY'S DARE, GET TWO SHEETS OF PAPER. ON THE FIRST ONE, SPEND A FEW MINUTES WRITING OUT POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT YOUR SPOUSE THEN DO THE SAME WITH NEGATIVE THINGS ON THE SECOND SHEET. PLACE BOTH SHEETS IN A SECRET PLACE FOR ANOTHER DAY. THERE IS A DIFFERENT PURPOSE AND PLAN FOR EACH. AT SOME POINT DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY, PICK A POSITIVE ATTRIBUTE FROM THE FIRST LIST AND THANK YOUR SPOUSE FOR HAVING THIS CHARACTERISTIC.

I was going to write the list here but out of respect for my husband I wont air his dirty laundry on the internet. But for my one positive thing, I'm going to make it something strange like thank you for buying me feminine products lol. Update when he gets home :)