The Goal

There is a man down the street from our house who is CONSTANTLY cleaning his garage. There is nothing in there, with the occasional exception of his car. Not a box, not a bag of trash, not even a bike rack, much less the bike that often accompanies such a rack. A few months ago, when the Albuquerque weather turned a shade of delicious early spring warm, we drove past and observed him scrubbing the non-existant dirt from his garage floor. Paul and I have seriously considered leaving our garage door open 'by accident' just to see if his need to have a perfect garage would transfer to our own(which is beyond less-than-tidy). We have yet to attempt it. It reminds me of the Proverb that speaks of how it would be better to sleep on the corner of the roof rather than live with a contentious woman. I don't know if this is the case for our possibly OCD-ish neighbor, but it has challenged me to re-consider the impact I have on my husband and family. Am I contentious? Or am I gracious? Do I encourage security? I desire to be the Proverbs 31 woman whose husband can safely trust in, and not escape to a seperate room and distract himself with repetitive tasks. I wish the state of our garage (essentially the opposite of our neighbor) could be indicative of my husbands happiness, but I don't think it's a marriage-thermometer. Too bad. So this week, it is my goal to be intentionally patient, soft-spoken, gentle and extra, extra kind. We'll see...