Shatterproof Your Marriage by John Eckenwiler

Author:John Eckenwiler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

4. Attitude: Have the humility of Jesus in all situations. When do you find yourself being the most prideful in life? Determine how this can affect your marriage and begin changing the thoughts that reinforce this pride. Identify what those specific thoughts or ideas are. Discuss how you could humble yourself more completely with your marriage partner.

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True Love Must Be Devoted

[Love] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.

I Corinthians 13:6

Everyone is devoted to something. As Vince Lombardi, famous football coach said, “Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”

The sad thing is many people are devoted in ways they don’t realize. The definition for devotion is ardent, often selfless affection and dedication to a person or principle. Another word that is close to this is “commitment,” defined as the act of binding yourself to a course of action. Most people are devoted to things that are mostly self-serving—the things in life that are not lasting—and give them most of their time and energy. For the vast majority of people this means taking the path of least resistance, giving in to laziness and the pleasures of immediate gratification. They are passively devoted. Their devotion is by default—it’s not a conscious decision so much as a pattern of life they fall into. Marriage is a common place to see this; just look at all the people that do the same things over and over without thinking much. But the net result is they are pouring their time and energy into thoughtless mediocrity.

Many years ago there was a young man who eventually made writing his career. He spent twenty years in the Coast Guard and decided to become a freelance writer. He moved into a cleaned-out storage room in a Greenwich Village apartment building. It was not heated and had no bathroom. He bought a used manual typewriter to get started. He spent a year at this with no success of any kind! He had a dream to be a successful writer, but began to have serious doubts about his plan.

One day he got a call from an old friend from the Coast Guard offering him a job as a public information assistant that paid $6,000 a year. In 1960, this was great money! Yet this young aspiring writer wanted to write full-time, so he turned down the job. As frightening as this was, he knew what he really wanted. The struggle continued, as he had the daily challenge of figuring out how he was even going to eat. Gradually, he began to sell an article here, an article there.

Slowly but surely, this young man managed to make a career for himself. Long after he moved out of Greenwich Village and had become successful, one day he was unpacking some personal things. He came across a brown paper bag.

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