The phone rang and she answered it. The change in her tone was blatantly obvious to everyone in the room. This wife went from bubbly/friendly to irritated/annoyed. “Who was on the other end of the phone?” we wondered. Then she said his name and we learned that it was her husband.
This scenario happened in the public setting of a business. My heart sank when I realized that when this lady heard her husband’s voice, instead of being glad to hear from him, she was irritated. His call interrupted her. His questions annoyed her. And his needs overwhelmed her. She was only too happy to hang up and move on with the people around her and the business at hand.
But I cannot point a finger at her because the rest of my hand is pointing back at me. It’s easy to get a call from Dale and answer casually instead of enthusiastically. Do you ever get caught up in the day-to-day routine as I do and forget the special bond you share with your spouse? Consider the difference between answering the phone with,
“Yeah, whatcha’ need?”
Or
Hi Sweetheart! I’m glad to hear from you!
What about when he asks you a question and you answer him for the second or third time? Does each answer get louder and more aggravated? Remember how you loved his name when you were dating? Do you say it with as much tenderness now?
Last week my brother-in-law was working his job inspecting roofs, as he has done for many years now. The early morning dew was still on the back half of the house, making the surface slippery. His work would be quick and he planned to climb down in just a minute, but just as that thought was flying through his mind, his foot slipped and he could feel himself falling. He grabbed the gutter of the house, helping to break his fall, but only a little. He was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center in the area where he was treated in the Emergency Room for his many broken bones. Praise the Lord for sparing his life!
As my sister and I walked the hospital halls together, we discussed the abruptness of any calamity. No one plans for it. No one puts, “Visit husband in trauma unit” in their planner, but life as we know it can be changed in a moment. We all know that, but we move on each day as though we are ignorant of that truth, and we blurt out unkind phrases and words like an umpire at a ballgame.
Remember the woman I mentioned at the beginning of this post? The one who changed her disposition when her husband called? Sadly, I learned the news of her husband’s death and I wondered if she ever wished she could talk to him again, with a completely different frame of mind? Did she ever wish he would interrupt her busy day by calling her?
If you knew that this was your last day with our spouse, would you use a different tone when we answered his call? Would you use kinder words when responding to his questions? Would your repeated answer be more patient? Even if we knew we had 50 more years together, wouldn’t we want our relationship to epitomize tenderness, kindness and sacrificial love? These are all words of grace – what we receive from the Lord every day. It’s what might not be deserved, but we give it, because that is how we are loved and spoken to by our Savior.
I know I need to make some changes in order to fill my husband’s ears with words of grace. How about you? Excuse me while I answer my phone…
Hi Sweetheart! I’m glad to hear from you!
If we asked others what they hear when we speak to our spouse, what would they say? What would our husband say? It’s all about grace.
RefreshHer 