When you strive to be more intentional in your efforts, it really commands your attention to details. I've managed to complete 10 full days of the Love Dare Challenge... because we are doing this on a Wednesday night, we actually only have to do 5 days a week instead of 7 so we get to play catch up if we miss one... But even with the reprieve, it's been a good opportunity to learn how I can serve Dana in little ways that make a big impact.
Just as a recap I'll list a few of the challenges I've completed over the last 5 days...
Day 6... love is not irritable... Sometimes we get overwhelmed with responsibility and stress that we get irritated at our spouse easily. This day I was supposed to react to tough circumstances in loving ways instead of with irritation. Make a list of the areas where we need to add margin to our schedule.
The only major stress in our life is the house payment... It's way more burdensome than we imagined so we made a decision to sell our house and trust God for the next step. Just like that, we both agreed and now we'll act it out to give us some margin in our finances...
Day 7...Love believes the best... Get two sheets of paper... On one list the positive things you love about your spouse... On the second one, list the negative things. Save these sheets for another day. Pick a positive attribute and thank your spouse for having that...
I picked the fact that he's always worked for us... He's not idle or lazy... That's a huge deal for me since I have a tendency to be lazy or idle... It asked which list was easier... I have to admit I had a whole page of positive things that I love about Dana... The negative was very small...
Day 8... Love is Not Jealous... Take yesterday's list of negative attributes and BURN it... Okay, I didn't see that coming.. I wanted to at least mull over the things I thought were negative so that I could help fix them... But do you know that Bible even talks about thinking on things that are noble, good, right, just, and honorable...
I was supposed to share with my spouse how glad I am over a recent success... I have to say that his position with Shannon is a good one, with a lot of benefits... Like the ability to take the boat out and spend the day with the family for two weekends in a row... that's a huge success and even though the boat isn't ours... It's as available to us as if it were...
Day 9... Love makes good impressions... Greet your spouse in a way that reflects your love for them.
This day Dana actually met me at the door with a huge kiss and he was cooking potato soup... I wonder if he is actually reading the book too... He's doing everything the book is saying to do without it seeming to be a burden... It's so natural for him to express himself and his love to me... I don't want to take that kind of attention and love for granted, so I had better learn how to return the sentiment... So I kissed him back... Then we went walking together that night.
Day 10...Love is unconditional... Do something out of the ordinary today for your spouse... something that proves that your love is based on your choice and nothing else... When Dana cooks, I always clean up after him. I feel it's my way of thanking him for cooking... And I did that the other night... But since this is today's challenge and the day isn't over yet... there is something that I can do for him... See, our washing machine broke on Saturday and we wash like 5 loads of clothes a day usually... So that means we haven't washed in 4 days and we have a pile of dirty clothes waiting... I think the repair man is coming tomorrow.... So, I think he used his last pair of clean underwear today, so I will handwash him a couple of pairs to get him through to tomorrow... If that doesn't speak love, I don't know what will...
I've been having to handwash Ragan's work t-shirts as well, because she only has 2 and we've been 4 days without a washer... She has said thank you...
Okay... that's the recap of the last week and I am honestly looking forward to the next week's challenge...
I've started a health challenge at work and have even walked three times this week, but I gained a pound... So I'm adding in that challenge as well as the love dare challenge that I'm also using on my co-workers and clients... (that's a blog for another day;-)
Anyhoo!!! I'll go ahead and end this blog as it's gotten a little lengthy!!!
Love you!
Lea Anne
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