It's a 2-way street

A few weeks ago, I snapped at my husband over the phone. As I meditated on the incident, it was obvious that it though it wasn't a "TA" situation, it was an "SA" one. As I pondered, the Holy Spirit kindly asked/ reminded me of 3 things - in this order:

1. He asked me if my outburst aligned with these verses that I constantly challenge myself to live up to: Proverbs 31:11-12 - ¹¹ Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. ¹² She brings him good, not harm,  all the days of her life. (NLT)
2. Did I just "touch" (actually "hurt")  the Lord's Anointed knowing that God clearly says Psalm 105:15: “Do not touch my anointed ones, or harm my prophets.”*** Oh my! how could I have done that?! Now it was no longer about how I felt about my self-set standard (see #1 above), it was now about whether or not I was obeying God's Word.
3. While I was scolding myself, He then said: "You know, you are also God's anointed one... so you should not be "hurt" either." Awww...how sweet. I was happy to hear that but before I started gloating, He reminded me that this still did not justify my outburst. 

So essentially, what I learned was:

• Love and respect in marriage is a 2-way street - that must be why we have Ephesians 5:21**** in the exact location prior to the list of a husband's responsibilities to his wife and vice-versa.
• The fact that it is a 2-way street does not mean that you need to wait for traffic on the other "street" before you make progress on your side of the street.
• In marriage, you need more than love for each other to stay in love and more importantly married. You need God - Who is Love - as the 3rd cord****** to keep you and your spouse intact. It's also God that gives us the grace and humility to apologize when you are wrong...as I was.

  

  
  

I'm sure you know that there's a lot more to this post...

Well, I encourage you not to bother about what I've not said and rather look into your marriage and see how you can make sure your side of the "street"  honors God and brings pleasure to your spouse. I'm off to maintain my side of the "street"...

References:

*Transferred Aggression

** Suppressed Annoyance

*** Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

****Psalm 105:15 - “Do not touch my chosen people, and do not hurt my prophets.” (NLT)

*****Ephesians 5:21 - Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another. (MSG)

******Ecclesiastes 4:12 - An enemy might be able to defeat one person, but two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. And three people are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together—it is very hard to break. (ERV)