A few weeks ago, the hubs and I were having a discussion on a particular subject which I have a very strong stance on. As would have it, the hubs asked me to consider the opposite stance as he was leaning towards that way. I said no and gave him all my reasons. When I asked him why he thought otherwise, he wasn't sure. He just wanted to keep an open mind but since I had very good, sound, logical reasons filled with conviction, he ended up agreeing with me. Success! I felt so proud of myself for having totally convinced the hubs to agree with me by the end of the conversation.
But then... as I was thinking back on that conversation, I felt totally manipulative. Did i give the other stance a chance and think through why the hubs felt what he felt or did I just feed ideas into his head to get my way? Did I really have better reasons or was I just more stubborn? Was my stance really Spirit-filled or am I just selfish? What if God was telling the hubs something, without giving him any reasons so that he would trust God but my own selfishness was too stubborn to listen to the hubs and instead, caused the hubs to do the exact opposite of what God told him? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Reminds me of a husband and wife who was told to trust God and not eat from a certain tree but the woman was a little too selfish and actually caused both her and her husband to sin.
Not saying that this is what was really happening during our conversation a few weeks ago but it is a possibility. Sometimes with the hubs, I'm a lot more likely to speak and demand agreement than I am to listen and obey, to listen and follow.
So I tried to be conscious of this. The other day, I asked the hubs if we should change our dinner plans with friends so we could go to prayer meeting instead. I thought isn't prayer more important than dinner? But the hubs said we committed to going to dinner and should stick to the plan. I didn't agree but I also didn't argue. I trust my husband to make the decision and I was going to listen and follow. And I did. Wasn't really a life altering decision but gotta start somewhere, right?
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