Scene #1 –
Without
asking him to, your husband walks in to the room where you are sitting and
decides to sit there with you. He softly
says, “I just want to be close to you. Be in your presence.” The love in the room is so strong you can
almost touch it. He loves you and you
love him. Then he begins to speak. He
tells you how much he cherishes the covenant relationship the two of you have
with one another. He tells you that he couldn’t live one minute without
you. He thanks you for every thing you
do for him. He acknowledges how much you overlook and forgive his
weaknesses. He thanks you for the life –
the children – you have given him. He
thanks you for the way you take care of their every need. He tells you that you are so beautiful and
perfect to him in every way. He begins to thank you for every thing you do
every day. Every single thing you do is
acknowledged and appreciated: the way
you do things, the reason you do things, the way you keep your promises to him,
even though he doesn’t always keep his.
He tells
you that his love for you is so deep that he wants to please you in every thing
he does. He is more than willing to give
up his own life in order to live the life you want him to live. He tells you that he wants his life to focus
on one thing: pleasing you. He asks you
to tell him how you envision your future together. He asks you to open your
heart to him. He wants to want what you
want. He acknowledges that everything he
has belongs to you. He wants to hear about what matters to you. He wants to hear about what pleases you. He wants to hear about what displeases
you.
And you
tell him. You tell him that you love
him. You tell him about the wonderful
future you have planned for the two of you.
You tell him that everything you have belongs to him. You explain your
heart to him. You reveal to him the
things that matter to you. He
understands the kinds of things that matter to you. Because of his deep, deep love for you – and
your deep, deep love for him – there is no struggle in the relationship. He doesn’t wonder what
pleases you – He knows. He knows
you. His love for you is only out
measured by your love for him. It’s a
beautiful circle of love. There is no
fear. And there is no doubt in either of
your hearts that you will never leave him or forsake him. There is peace. In the middle of chaotic
life, there is peace.
Scene #2 –
Without
asking him to, your husband walks in to the room where you are sitting. It’s
been weeks since the two of you have had a decent conversation, so you are
happy to see him. He speaks to you with an edge in his voice. It’s obvious from the tone in his voice that
He isn’t sure you care about what he’s dealing with. He decides to tell you anyway - because after all - the two of you have a
covenant with one another. For the next several minutes he spills his
heart out. You see his is afraid. Of life. Of the challenges he is facing. You hear that he is overwhelmed and feels like
he is walking through life on his own. You hear anger, and pride, and self-righteous pity. He is kind of insinuating that maybe you
aren’t really all that in to the relationship because you don’t seem to lift a
finger to help him. He gets up to leave
the room – and as he is walking away he has a list of things he needs help
with. He shouts them out to you. Before you have a chance to
respond, he’s gone. A few weeks later,
he does the same thing. Your heart is
sad because he doesn’t stay around long enough for you to share your heart with
him. He doesn’t seem to appreciate you,
your love for him, your sacrifice for him, or how you long to help him through
life. He never seems to want to know what your will is because he really doesn't care what your will is. His idea of your covenant relationship with him is that you focus on him all the time - and - he doesn't really give much thought to whether or not he is focused on you. At all. Ever.
So now, in both of those scenes, imagine that you are God
and your husband is you.
If you were God, which one of those two scenes seem like
love to you?
And then review both scenes again, but this time you are your husband.
Which one of those scenes comes closest to the way YOU pray?
Is prayer simply a list of what you WANT from God?
IMHO – we have forgotten what prayer actually is.
Next blog we will study HOW Jesus prayed. Not just WHAT He taught us to say. But WHAT He did.
More to come.
XO,
Mrs. Older
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