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Irreconcilable Differences | |
Why you don't need to see things the same way.
by Mark Galli
It didn't take long into my marriage to discover how incompatible my wife and I were. One reason I was attracted to Barbara in the first place was her apparent interest in theology. We'd spent many happy hours in college taking Bible and religion classes together; we even co-wrote a mediocre paper on the Reformation! Few people have my nutty interest in theology, so I felt especially blessed to have discovered an eligible woman who shared that interest. I proposed as quickly as I could, and I was ready to live happily ever after.
Some days into the marriage I was shocked to discover the truth about Barb. I'd just finished some weighty tome-such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Creation and Fall-and encouraged her to read it. She said she wasn't interested. When over the next week I suggested another theology book, and then another, and was turned down repeatedly, I asked what was going on.
"I really don't like theology all that much."
"But what about ... ?" I stammered.
"Once in awhile it's okay. But most of the time I find it too dry."
I was floored. Here was the woman of my dreams telling me she wasn't really the woman of my dreams.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
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Happy Valentine's Day!
(If you forgot about it, there's still time!). According to the National Retail Federation Americans will spend nearly $18 billion on Valentine's Day, " with the average guy expecting to shell out about $168, according to a survey commissioned by the organization. Women say they'll spend about half that amount." (1)
Hey, what's up with that, ladies?!
It's a fun holiday. It's an important one, I believe. We all need to be reminded now and then to give gifts to our sweethearts and others' whose love fills our lives. But in the midst of candlelight dinners, roses, and chocolates is there room for ... marriage counseling? If your relationship is struggling, perhaps that's the best gift you could give. Or maybe you have a good marriage, but you're struggling through a difficult season -- caring for an elderly parent, parenting differences, financial issues -- and could use the help of a seasoned counselor to guide you through. Is today the day to make the call to CBC-McKinney and engage, or reengage, in counseling? Call us at 214.585.4859 or email us at info@cbcmckinney.com. You may also go to this link and email the counselor who appears to be the right fit for you: www.cbcmckinney.com/staff.html.
Today (February 14th) marks the end of National Marriage Week, but it can be the beginning of your personal marriage renewal.
-Chuck Roberts
Sources: (1) http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/us-spending-valentines-idUSTRE8182E320120209
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Book Review
By Tammy Duzenack
The Muir House by Mary DeMuth
"You'll find home one day"... the only memory Willa has from the year she was 4 years old. And a picture of the man that said those words to her, holding a ring up to his eye. Willa Muir can remember a lot of details about her loving father and her not-so loving mother. She knows something important happened when she was four, but no one is willing to talk about it. This bothers her so much that she puts her life on hold, living in fear of the unknown and longing for closure. She is so steeped in her searching that when her boyfriend proposes to her, she flees from him in a panic. Through this and a few other events, such as her old rental house catching fire and burning to the ground and receiving a letter from her mother's caretaker saying that she really needs to come home, she packs and returns to Rockwall, Texas, her childhood home, hoping that she will finally find out why she has this hole in her memory.
Willa's relationships have all been far from perfect, so returning to Rockwall brings with it more anxiety than the answers she is wanting. An old high school friendship is restored while her old boyfriend's relationship is tested. The caretaker of her childhood home and her mom is a closed book every time Willa tries to get her to reveal the secret surrounding her childhood, keeping her promise to protect others. But living in the surroundings where the events occurred, things begin to finally unfold as to who her parents really were and why the selfish choices they made ultimately scarred Willa.
The Muir House is a story about living with paralyzing fear, of searching for love, both old and new, and finally finding where home really is. It's a story of reconciliation, finding out who family really is and being able to love them all regardless of the past.
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1 Corinthians 13: 1-8
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. (The Message) |
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Center for Biblical Counseling
1871 Harroun Avenue Suite 300
McKinney, Texas 75069
214.585.4859
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