We all get upset at times with things that happen in our lives, things happen to us that are outside our control and that we hadn’t counted on. Often it is caused by the words or actions of others. How we respond to what happens to us, can tell us a lot about ourselves and our natures.
When it comes to marriage and family life, there are always going to be things that will happen that we didn’t count on. I’ve felt that way just this morning. It wasn’t with Mick and the problem wasn’t caused by him but someone else who upset me by thoughtless, and self- centered behavior. But that’s another story. What I want to talk about is how we handle upsets in marriage.
Every day there are things that happen. We can choose to let them get to us or to laugh them off. Laughter can off kill off a threatening argument and the wrong response. Laughter is good for any marriage.
When it comes to upsets, it’s a matter sometimes of picking your battles and not getting upset or taking umbrage (can you tell I’m still into U in the alphabetical marriage blog?) over trivial and unimportant things. Often they are things we have no control over.
Yesterday when we came home from church we got lunch ready. I was looking forward to a nice cup of coffee with lunch, getting my blog done and then sitting down to watch the footy. It didn’t happen as planned. We had a blackout. Since our house is all electric that meant no coffee, no blog done, no footy. I could have sat there and became upset about it. But what would be the point? It wouldn’t have changed matters one bit. Instead, after lunch I opened my book and relaxed. In time the electricity came back on and all the planned things happened, just a bit late.
In marriage we’re often going to have to deal with the unexpected. But getting upset rarely helps anything. We need to learn to decide, firstly whether it is important enough to make an issue out of, or whether it’s better to laugh it off or simply ignore it. Basically we need to stop and think before we react and get upset.
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