Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

—Philippians 2:4

Today's Dare

Demonstrate love by willingly choosing to give in to an area of disagreement between you and your spouse.  Tell them you are putting their preference first.

I prayed about this dare, as I do with all the others, but in particular because generally we do not have big disagreements. We tend to deal with our disagreements through humour and we are both pretty comfortable with giving in to the other one.

Apart from the other night when we had our disagreements, our life together is pretty calm. I was not going to provoke something, just so I could give in, but prayed about it and “stored” it like an IOU in the back of my mind, for when we do disagree about something.

Well, God always knows what is coming and the today’s dare was meant to be. My hubby’s car had started leaking oil and water some time ago. I urged him to have it booked in and fixed, more than a month ago. Every so often I will check with him and ask him why it is not done and remind him to do it again. Last night he was late again. I didn’t phone, and about ½ hour after he was meant to be home, my phone rang. He was at a garage close to home, his car is smoking so bad he can’t see where to drive etc. oil light stays on, they had put in 4 pints of oil and the dipstick is only just showing oil now…

I stayed calm, asked him if I need to come get him, he said no, he’d be home shortly, it is not so far to drive. He had booked his car in for Friday, but said he would phone first thing next morning to check if they can take it a day earlier.

When he walked in, I smiled, greeted him and said “I will not say anything”. He knew, especially since I had haunted him about getting it fixed. We spoke about it later and I said if he can take his car in in the morning, he must let me know if I must fetch him from the garage to take him home. He had to take the next two days off, because he has no car to get to work, and unfortunately, I’m doing quite a bit of driving during the day between offices, so I can’t let him drive with my car.

So thank God, for sending the right thing at the right moment, so that instead of making a big deal about something, I can be calm about it, and hubby and I can work together on getting solutions to the problem.

My scripture was very fitting for today.

Psalm 103

The Love of God

   
    Praise the Lord, my soul! 
      All my being, praise his holy name!
 ² Praise the Lord, my soul, 
      and do not forget how kind he is.
 ³ He forgives all my sins 
      and heals all my diseases.
 ⁴ He keeps me from the grave 
      and blesses me with love and mercy.
 ⁵ He fills my life with good things, 
      so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.

 ⁶ The Lord judges in favor of the oppressed 
      and gives them their rights.
 ⁷ He revealed his plans to Moses 
      and let the people of Israel see his mighty deeds.
 ⁸ The Lord is merciful and loving, 
      slow to become angry and full of constant love.
 ⁹ He does not keep on rebuking; 
      he is not angry forever.
 ¹⁰ He does not punish us as we deserve 
      or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.
 ¹¹ As high as the sky is above the earth, 
      so great is his love for those who honor him.
 ¹² As far as the east is from the west, 
      so far does he remove our sins from us.
 ¹³ As a father is kind to his children, 
      so the Lord is kind to those who honor him.
 ¹⁴ He knows what we are made of; 
      he remembers that we are dust.