Humility.

Well, today has been a really good day...in a sense. I would call any day a good one when the Lord decides to grab ahold of you with any particular lesson for personal growth. He has a great way of just driving whatever his lesson is, right to core of your very being. My lesson today...humility in dealing with my wife. We awoke this morning at 6:45 am, which is early for us on a Saturday, so that we could get ready to go to a marriage conference at the church. It was a televised conference out of Colorado Springs, CO, hosted by Focus on the Family, and our church had the big screen set up and served as a satellite location for people to attend the conference. We haven't ever attended any kind of marriage enrichment type activity since being hitched, so we thought it a good idea to attend. We often feel that our marriage is rock solid and unshakable, and that we've got the best thing going already, but we have come to realize that the enemy is ALWAYS lurking around trying to do ANYTHING he can to absolutely destroy marriages. And we've witnessed it way too many times to even our close friends and even pastors. Sooooo....we jumped at the oportunity to learn something new and sure up any shaky parts that may already be present. I will say this......it was an awesome idea to do this and much was gained. There are so many misconceptions about what marriage really is and what we should expect out of it, that I wish every person even considering marriage could learn these truths that were explored today. Anyways, after the conference, I felt good about how our marriage has been, and even better about how it will be. But I know my struggle is to be humble in dealing with Tarah, and I will need to work on this---which, I'm sure, is why God put it in our hearts tonight...to play Settlers of Catan. ohhhh, the joys and frustrations of this game can unwind even the most even keeled of us all. You know it is the hand of the Lord when your settlements are all over the 6's, 8's, 5's, and 9's, and all you seem to throw are the 4's, 10's, and 11's that HER CITIES are on. I watched hand after hand of her gathering resource cards and buying up all the real estate around and cutting off my every move, and then jumping that stupid robber back and forth from my only sources of wood and brick like it was John Trovolta in "Saturday Night Fever". I couldn't help but finally give in to that still, small voice that wispered gently..."patience"...."humility my child". Come to think of it, I may have learned more from the game tonight than I did all day at the conference.......nahhh.