Being Corrected...

Missy and I have been getting ready for a youth event at our house this week. We have been cleaning, cooking (well, SHE has been cooking, I burn toast on stage in front of everyone), moving stuff around, and just in general being very busy. It can make for a stressful environment when you are doing lots of extra stuff along with everything else that is normally going on in your life. These stressful times are opportunities for us to either be encouraging or hurtful.

Last night, as we were finishing up I was talking with Missy as I was cleaning and she was cooking. We were both tired and I wasn't really paying attention to what I was saying. To be dead honest, I remember the point I was trying to make, but I don't remember the exact words I said. What I do remember very clearly is what my wife said in response: "Just shut up." That got my attention as I was quickly trying to go back over what I had just said. She was mad.

Later that night before bed I pursued her on the conversation we were having. I heard what she has told me before. It is something I constantly struggle with in our relationship. "Sometimes you really degrade me and my decisions." She said. "You hold things over my head and tell me what a bad choice it was, all while talking about the good choice you made. It hurts."

I felt like a pile of dung. I knew I was in the wrong. I was being corrected for incorrect behavior.

At this point, I have a choice to make. We all do when we are being corrected. I see it with Isaiah when I correct his behavior. I see it in a teenager when I call them down for talking during the sermon or lesson. I even see this choice being made in a dog when training it. Anytime we are being corrected, we can choose to go on the defensive, get angry, and take a stand on our point even though we know we are wrong, or we can choose to accept the fact that we are wrong, apologize, and begin to adjust our behavior as needed.

God corrects our behavior, too. Again we have a choice in the matter. We can choose to accept His correction, or reject it.

But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects...

-Proverbs 3:11,12

I hugged my wife, told her I was so sorry. I am accepting the correction that she is giving me to make our relationship better. 11 years in and I still want to do more for her. 11 years in and I am so glad that she loves me enough to tell me when I am wrong. Today I am mindful of the words I say. That I am being a Godly husband, and loving my wife as Christ loves the church: abundantly and without restraint.

In Christ,

jon walton

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