Marriage: What We See

My sister and I are undertaking a huge painting project.  We are painting-by-numbers a 10×7 foot jungle mural on my son’s bedroom wall.  I have considerably less experience with this kind of tedious craft work than she does. . .and it shows.  My shaky hand is falling outside the lines more times than I can count.  What I am counting on is that no one will examine the job that I’ve done up close.  From a foot or two away, this is shaping up to be quite a professional looking mural.  I could have a lot of people fooled.  But if you were to step up to the wall and study the fine details, you might see all of my flaws.  They are there either way, but if were looking for them, they might be all that you would see, and then you’d miss the big picture.

It was then that I realized that this is what we do in marriage far too many times. . .what I do in my marriage.

We are in close proximity to another human being when we are married.  We are with them day in and day out.  And we have an important choice to make.  Are we going to look for the flaws?  Because, if so, we will certainly see them.  Or are we going to step back just enough to see what a beautiful masterpiece our mate can be as God, the Artist, works through them.

Ouch, I hate the conviction I’m feeling.