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WHY DO WE FIGHT?
While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing
with communication, Tom and his wife Grace listened
to the instructor, "It is essential that husbands
and wives know the things that are important to each
other."
He addressed the man, "Can you
describe your wife's favorite flower?" Tom leaned
over, touched his wife's arm gently and whispered, "It's
Selfraising, isn't it? The rest of the story gets rather
ugly, so I'll stop right here...
Conflict is common to all marriages.
The issue is not whether we experience conflict in our
marriage but how we handle conflict when it arises.
When we are hurt by our partner, our natural tendency
is usually to respond in one of two ways:
- For some, a common response is 'stuffing'
it - in other words suppressing anger by denial, withdrawal
or rejection.
- For others it would be 'blowing'
it - in other words expressing anger that shows hostility
or aggression.
All marriage relationships suffer from
various degrees of pain and anger brought on by a partner's
offence but in the end it will be the choices we make
during conflict that will either drive us apart or bind
us together.
Although conflict is common in any marriage
relationship, it is important to resolve conflict promptly.
In the Bible we read "Be angry, and yet do not
sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do
not give the devil a foothold" Ephesians 4:26,27
Resolving conflict requires firstly
that we understand 'anger' and this will be discussed
in our next edition.
Learn more about your partner and how
to handle conflict by attending "a Week-end To
Remember" - A FamilyLife Marriage Conference on
16-18 September 2005 at the Centurion Conference Centre.
Read more about this on www.familylife.org.za
or call Ina at 012 3482603
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