In-TEA-macy of Marriage

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. (Psalm 31:9, ESV)

Sometimes there seems to be no cuppa to serve, no words to say....in the darkest times of grief. Losing a spouse is such a time. Prayers. Comfort foods. Words of comfort. Nothing assuages the grief like being there for them.

They feasted on love; every mode of it---solemn and merry, romantic and realistic, sometimes as dramatic as a thunderstorm, sometimes comfortable and unemphatic as putting on your soft slippers. (C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed)

Melody and Ronnie had such a marriage....filled with love! 

s-TEA-rife tempered by captivi-TEA

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIT)

Strife. What is it? What causes it? What can one do about it?

My life must have it as I often realize my teeth are clenched. Even my shoulders seem to stay "clenched" lately. Up around my ears----until I intentionally pull them down, willing myself to calm down and relax.

Then, yesterday my iPad notes from 2 years ago opened wide for me to see:

• Strife---an inside job---it springs from within
• Strife---the enemy of peace and calm
• Root of strife = SELF-Worldiness, aka pride (opposite of pride is humility)
• Strife is conflict between our thinking and God's word.
• Mood-induced thoughts can keep me in turmoil, aka strife.
• Real issue--Whom will I love? God or the world? James 4:4 asks, "don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?"

Good riddance for strife---submit to God, draw near to Him and as He reciprocates by drawing near as well, it becomes much easier to take every "rebellious self" thought captive.

(Continue reading).....God's word, that is.

God gracefully serves us cuppa after cuppa of humili--TEA, puri-TEA, and in-TEA-macy once we pour out the dregs of enmi-TEA and s-TEA-rife that have stained the insides of our former cuppa.