Sometimes I work out by running on the indoor track at the gym. Ten laps make a mile, so I have to count every lap to make sure I get in enough to count for the day's requirement. I have been known to try to count laps on my fingers, but it never fails...I get sidetracked and forget to keep the correct number of fingers curled into my palm.
Therefore I adopted the praying on the run method. I have written out two sets of index cards, and as I run around the track, I work my way through one set. I pray about the content of one card per lap.
The set I prayed from this evening is a (good) challenge for me, so I thought I'd share the content of the cards with you over the next few weeks. Maybe you can give me more insight. Maybe you can adopt or adapt the prayers for yourself.
Everything on this set of cards came from a book I read a couple of years ago. It's called The Best Thing I Ever Did for My Marriage. I love to read books about marriage, because I figure this is boot camp. Might as well work on my character as much as I can before I get married. It can only help, right? This book is a compilation of ideas from different authors, and I picked my twenty favorite ideas for my cards.
Card #1
"When two people join hands in marriage, there's a good chance their differences will collide like two gasoline trucks on the interstate." - Dennis Rainey
Prayer thought: Blending of differences to achieve a harmonious and productive marriage.
Opposites attract, right? I have observed many marriages, and I've learned that some couples do a fantastic job of blending those differences in such a way that allows them to achieve twice as much as they could alone. Of course, I've also known a few colliding gasoline trucks.
How does a couple learn to blend rather than collide? That I do not know. Perhaps I can't know it until I get there. Perhaps a big chunk of it is God's work behind the scenes - maybe even work that is accelerated by the invitation of prayer. I don't know.
So that's praying on the run...card one. If you have any suggestions for being a blender, not a colliding tanker, I'm listening!
1 hour ago
5 comments:
Blenderizing involves rolling with the punches. And NEVER assuming bad motives for the things that drive you crazy.
A joke-ish email (the kind that reveals true things) had things men should be able to tell their wives/girlfriends. The best one, in my opinion: "If there are two ways to interpret what I said to you, I meant it the way that doesn't make you cry."
Try to remember that when the time comes. If he says something insulting, it's because his emotional and social skills are in short supply (as are those of most straight men), and he really was trying to help. Forgive. Life will be blendered, not exploded, if you do.
This is good stuff, Skyepuppy! Pretty sure I need some work on rolling with the punches AND not assuming the worst. That was a really bad habit I had in my previous relationship, and it drove him NUTS. I didn't understand it at the time...thought it was normal, but from here I see that it was not healthy at all.
Hi Bekah, Love the prayer card idea! My husband and I are opposites in that he's the extrovert and I'm the introvert of the relationship. It can be good and bad depending on the situation, but as long as we both are open to learning from each other we avoid the collisions.
Skye - great explanation of "blenderizing" in marriage!
Bekah - love the posting and the idea of doing a series of them!
Sarah - yes! Open to learning - VERY important. That is actually high on the list of the qualities I am praying my husband will have. And it's something I am working on in myself, too!
Tsofah - You just never know what I'm going to scrounge up, do you? :)
Post a Comment