April 26, 2007

Verse of the Day:
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1)

I had a rough day yesterday. I had a chiropractic appointment in the morning, I had to run to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things I forgot on Grocery Day, and I had to run to the Post Office to drop off some bills and a few other cards and letters. When I got home, I still had the standing dishes yet to wash, change out the sheets and towels, clean the toilets, do some laundry, take out the trash for tomorrow's pick-up, and pick up the house in general. By the end of the day I was feeling quite beat up to the point where I was having a pity party.

Even before DearHubby came home I was already gearing up to just shoot fire at him because sometimes I feel like expectaions are held of me to have a perfect home and that the home needs to be in good and perfect condition when he arrives. I wanted to be ready to just be mean to him if he said anything about the house to set me off. However, as I was preparing myself for this "battle", I just started to get more and more tired and didn't have anymore strength to even think about shooting fire at DearHubby. So, I decided I would be nice instead.

I was expecting him home any time, but I gave him a phone call anyway to ask if everything was going all right and to let him know that I was just concerned about why he wasn't home yet. That just set the tone to let DearHubby know that he was arriving to a welcoming home. Then when DearHubby arrived home, DearDaughter and I greeted him at the door with a nice hug and kiss. As DearHubby rested for awhile, I sat next to him and put my head on his shoulders and explained how tired I was and wondered if I should go to the Bible study. When DearHubby saw that I was even too tired to go to the Bible study he knew that I was really tired. I was quite impressed and surprised with him because he helped me with dinner and during dinner he offered to take DearDaughter off of my hands so that I could get ready for the study and leave on time, all without me really having to say anything. I was quite humbled.

After the study, I stopped by WaWa to pick up Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream as a way to show my appreciation for DearHubby. Again, to my surprise, DearHubby went out and refilled our water softener with salt. This task has been waiting to be done for months and last night, out of the blue, he did it and I didn't even have to ask! I think he did it as a return favor for bringing home ice cream.

So, I was just reminded that being gentle and kind and considerate returns a greater blessing than shooting bullets of fire with my words. I can just imagine how much different the night would have turned out if I did shoot fire at DearHubby. It would not have turned out as blessed as it did. The other reminder is that it would have taken me more strength to shoot those fires at DearHubby whereas being nice didn't take much of my strength at all. Thank you God!