Love Dare - Day 7: Love Believes The Best

I am posting this a little late today. Actually I should have posted it last night. BUT, last night I was spending time with my man. So, your choices are either to take today off and start up again tomorrow or start a little late today. We are gonna skip Sunday, but I will keep the posts coming so that anyone who wants to keep going can do so. If you were behind us anyway, this might give you a chance to catch up:)

SO, yesterday was another tough one. Did you make it through OK? I hope so, and I am praying that you don't give in. I PROMISE you that it will all be worth it in the end!

Today, we put our focus back on the positive stuff. The positive in our spouse and our relationship. Positive, because LOVE believes the best!!!

"(Love) believes all things, hopes all things." - 1Corinthians 13:7

When Hubby and I were going through our pre-marital counseling we were asked to pick a Bible verse to define our future marriage. We were given a few suggestions, one of which was the one we ended up choosing. We even made the verse part of our vows. This is what we chose:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." - Philippians 4:8

You see, we promised each other and GOD that we would choose to see the good in each other, rather than the bad. We vowed to concentrate on the things that led us to fall in love in the first place. And if - WHEN - things happened to disappoint or anger us, rather than think about and stew over those things, we would remember and think about the POSITIVE! And, I promise that there have been times that I have had to make a loooooonnnnggggg mental list of those pluses in order to get past the negatives. But I made the choice to do that because I do not like being angry. And I am willing to bet that you don't either.

Now, I am sure that when you were dating or first married, you could have talked for a very long time about all of the wonderful qualities he/she had. Have they changed? Or have you made another list of the not so wonderful qualities? Now it is time to choose ...

Which of those lists do you want to focus on now? Which of those lists will make your life, and your marriage, a happier place to be? I am praying that you choose the happy list.

I am not going to make light of the unhappy list. I am sure that the things on that list are true. And I realize that there may be some pretty serious things on that list, things that may be extremely difficult to just set aside. And I am in prayer for those issues as well, please know that. But the happy list is real to. So, spend some time with it as well, please.

And today's dare is all about those lists. So if you haven't made them, here is your chance

Today's 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 plan and purpose 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.

Remember to think about the things on that first list before you let anything on the other list take over your thoughts. It will make both of your days better, I promise!

See ya tomorrow!