Today we have a special holiday guest post from WFLU Director of Admissions and Administration Emily. Emily is a homemaking, homeschooling mother of 3 wonderful children. She enjoys reading, singing, blogging, allergy-friendly cooking, book club, crisp fall days, church, and chatting with friends—most especially her best friend and husband, Andy. Emily believes in life-long learning, self-improvement, and a close-knit family
Do you ever find yourself comparing your personal journey in life with a friend’s or a loved one’s? You may ask yourself questions like “Why does that family seem to have it all together and ours is such a mess?” or “Why does that couple still seem so in love and my marriage seems to be hanging by a thread?” Perhaps those comparisons are what led you on your Wife for Life journey in the first place.
Sadly, questions like these only fill our hearts with despair. They rarely inspire us to improve. Instead, the perceived “lack” eats away at us, filling us with resentment and hopelessness. They rob us of our joy.
Lysa Terkeurst wisely said, “Comparison steals celebration. And a life void of celebration is empty. We stop celebrating our own good and have a really hard time celebrating others’ good.”
Who wants a life, especially a marriage, without celebration of the good things in it?
Instead, Wife for Life is a movement that celebrates lasting marriage—not perfect marriage. Even GRAND marriages aren’t perfect! At Wife for Life we focus on slow and steady changes in both our attitudes and our actions that eventually lead to growth and greater joy.
So how do we transform comparison to celebration?
One word: …
Gratitude.
Dallin H. Oaks said, “Let us give thanks for what we are and for the circumstances God has given us for our personal journey through mortality.”
So, ask yourself today: What am I grateful for in my marriage? What do I love about my spouse? What small successes have I experienced recently that fill my heart with gratitude and joy as I witness my own progress?
Write a few of those things down today and then celebrate them! Celebrate them with a fun date, a candle-lit dinner, an unexpected gift/card for your Honey, or even balloons and streamers all over your home for no other reason than that you are grateful—grateful to be you, grateful for your marriage and family, and grateful for your personal journey in life.
Your sincere thankfulness and spontaneous celebration will push away the emptiness and despair of comparison and fill you instead with hope. Doesn’t that sound great? And, besides, unexpected celebrations are just plain fun!
So, what are you waiting for? Get out the streamers and balloons!
I love this! Thank you so much, Emily!! It’s true – practicing gratitude always leads you to recognize even more things to be grateful for!
Great perspective, Emily! Thanks for the reminders!
I know I’m guilty as charged – sometimes I look at the grass on the other side of the fence and not only forget to realize that the grass is greener wherever you water it and we should really be thankful for grass at all in the first place. What a great reminder to be grateful and celebrate whatever it is we’re given.
Oooo Deb. I love the idea that we should “really be thankful for grass at all in the first place.”
I love the power gratitude has to destroy despair! I’ve had so much positive experience with this! What a fantastic reminder to focus on the abundance in my life. Thanks, Emily!