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STRAINING FORWARD

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you." -Philippians 3:13-15

Here we had an entire weekend off to get caught up on some housework, and even have a little time for recreation and relaxation, and wouldn't you just expect "Ole Beady Eyes" to just try to mess it up for us by causing some kind of a tiff that would ruin the whole weekend? Yeah, you've been there. Well, it happened to us this weekend. Don't think that just because we're marriage counselors we never have a bad day. Actually, sometimes I think we're even more sensitive to "hurts" because we are counselors, and we're more sensitized to this stuff. Well anyway, Saturday we "had words" and we did hurt each other. This could have easily ruined the entire weekend. There was a time when that would have been the case. But instead of running off to our own corners to lick our wounds and to fret, we decided to talk it through. And you know what? It is still difficult to stay in that place of grace, without letting emotions sabotage the dialogue. But with the help of the Holy Spirit we were able to "strain" forward, and at the end of our conversation, and prayer, we had a little better understanding of each other, a little better understanding of ourselves, and hopefully, a little stronger in our "oneness" as God is building us up into Him.

On Sunday, we awakened to a beautiful Spring-like day when all of nature seemed to worship God. We took a picnic lunch and visited John Jay's homestead in Westchester. It was beautiful. As we strolled the grounds hand-in-hand we really felt like we were winning the prize for which God had called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. Even if it was a strain, we know it was a strain forward.

Question for The Both of Us: How has the enemy caused us to mess up weekends or vacations that really could have been a real blessed time? How did each one of us contribute to the disaster?

Prayer For The Both of Us: Lord, help us to have the gentleness and self-control to strain forward no matter how difficult it may be. Be our strength. Help us to redeem the times so that Ole Beady Eyes will not steal the good times you have reserved for us.