Yield: Danger Ahead
What makes it hard to submit? This week Larry asked me to stay home one night from something I’d helped to plan. This wasn’t an arbitrary request. He was trying to protect me. I had been sick the week before and was experiencing an energy crisis. There was a hole in my energy tank, and by evening I felt like a vampire had sucked the life out of me. Despite his good intentions, I wrestled briefly before yielding.
I had just listened to Milton describe Eve’s naïveté in Paradise Lost. Milton presents Eve as a captivating beauty who needed safeguarding. He pictures Adam warning Eve as she sets out to explore. Eve thinks Adam is being unnecessarily cautious and dismisses his warnings. Milton’s Eve seemed more like a young child than an adult woman—a bit insulting to modern day women—but then she fell for the serpent’s lies.
With that background I thought about Larry’s request. “Please stay home. You’re going out of town next week. I saw two people today who got sick with something worse soon after their first sickness.” Perhaps he could see something I couldn’t. I consented.
The Bible says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ,” (Ephes. 5:21, NIV). So why do we resist submitting to each other? When Larry first asked me, I had two opposite reactions. One side of me felt insulted. The other side felt protected.
I resisted because my flesh said: [click to continue…]
Comment
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Comment by Ann Musico on February 12, 2013 at 2:30pm -
I agree, Deb!
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Comment by Deborah W. Wilson on February 12, 2013 at 2:09pm -
Ann, I totally identify with your relationship with your husband. Often Larry is able to see things I miss, and I am so glad when I listened. And he has also listened to my perspective and changed his direction. We really do need each other. But sometimes I still wrestle, and I think that is okay. It helps me look at the situation from a different side.
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Comment by Ann Musico on February 12, 2013 at 1:53pm
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Deb I have been known to struggle with this issue and still sometimes do – and usually when it is my husband sharing his thoughts or request of me. And most always, he is right and sees what I don’t. I know it’s why God put us together – he has what I don’t have and vice versa. We complement each other. He sees things differently and many times recognizes something I completely miss - in 30 years I have (finally!) learned to listen and just submit. It helps that he doesn't abuse that - what I mean is some people get "bossy" and feel they should constantly tell you what to do and he doesn't do that.
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