I'm grateful because God taught me last weekend a little about myself and my role in keeping the art priceless and beautiful. He taught me the very simple but valuable lesson (did I never hear it before or did I choose to ignore it?) that my role is to love God more than I love anything that Bob (or either of my kids, for that matter) does or does not give me or do for me.
I learned that Adam and Eve were created for the clear and specific purpose of bringing glory to the Author of the universe. Following that, the privileges that came with it were things like intimacy, affection, companionship, comfort, etc..... But once Adam and Eve disobeyed and changed everything forever, all of a sudden the purpose and privileges exchanged positions. Now our purpose is for ourselves. We want and demand the privileges at all costs, including the sacrifice of the feelings, thoughts, and ideas of our spouse. And the purpose of gloryfying God is merely an afterthought, something that happens if it's convenient, if all of our needs are met first.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37 that the most important act of obedience is to love God with ALL of our hearts, ALL of our souls, and ALL of our minds, FIRST, and then love our neighbor as ourselves.
So I refuse to allow Satan ANY victories here! My choices will be God's for me and for the care and preservation of this most beautiful of His craftmanship, my marriage and family!
