Don't Fall

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take head lest he fall."
1 Corinthians 10:12

Our pastor once said that you should never say that you don't have a problem with a certain sin, because sure enough, as soon as you do, you have opened yourself up to falling straight into that sin. I am pretty sure we were in the book of Galatians at the time (referring to considering yourself when correcting someone lest you fall into that same sin for which you are correcting someone else).

And I can attest to that principle on more than one occasion. The most recent being after a conversation a friend and I had. She is a good friend who helps hold me accountable for being a good wife and mother. She was concerned about something I had recently shared on my blog about teasing my beloved about not being able to spell beagle.

I assured her that I knew my beloved well enough to know when I could tease and when not to tease. Teasing him about spelling beagle led to giggles from both of us and a time of close bonding (which I was pretty sure it would).

HOWEVER (and it seems that there is always an HOWEVER when we are open to the Lord and His teachings)...

The other day my husband shared about how he had put a towel next to the bath for me. You see, after being married for almost 11 years, I finally have a house with a BATH for MOMMA! :) While I was content in the old house without one, my beloved has been so over joyed that our new house has one, and frequently encourages me to make up for lost bath time! :)

So I finally got to take yet ANOTHER bath, and afterwards reached for the towel that my beloved had so thoughtfully set beside the tub for me. He walked in and I jokingly flirtatiously teased him about how I knew the reason he picked that towel was because it was the shortest one so it would cover less of me (more for him to see).

The look of pain in my beloveds eyes was like a dagger. I had hurt him and I didn't know how. I thought I was being flirtatious (after all, I had just previous announced I knew when I could playfully tease my beloved and when I shouldn't). And here I was, in another OFG (opportunity for growth).

He was hurt because I had not seen his heart behind it. He replied, sheepishly, "No, I picked that towel for you because it was the softest."

You see, earlier that day my husband was getting out towels for the children after their bath and came across that towel and thought "this is so soft, I bet Paula would really like the feel of this after a nice hot bath."

I think what I am going to take away from this is that it is always better NOT to tease (even in a flirtatious way) so that I make sure NEVER to tease when I think I can, and really can't. That way I am ALWAYS honoring to my beloved. I need to look for the GOOD in whatever he is doing. The good in the towel was the thoughtfulness of giving me the softest towel we had. The good in him sharing with AA that he could not spell beagle was to encourage her that we all have areas of weaknesses and we should not make fun of others for that shortcoming.

Looking back with fresh eyes, I can see several areas where I could have totally blessed my beloved's socks off by seeing the good in what he had done rather than teasing him about it. There are PLENTY of other times for laughter and bonding and closeness. And it should never again be at something which inadvertently might be at his expense.