Annoyance and Irritation

If there are not times when your spouse annoys and/or irritates you, I question if you're actually breathing.  Ok, so maybe it's just that it's one of my weaknesses, but I think most of us discover that there are things about our spouses that annoy and irritate us - things we may have been totally unaware of before we married. 

The question then becomes - what are you going to do about it?  Are you going to dwell on it, letting your anger and imagination go wild?  Or are you going to remind yourself that there might actually be things about yourself that are annoying and irritating to your spouse?  Over the years, I have discovered that the latter approach is best.

I also like to remind myself of all the wonderful qualities about my spouse - the things that attracted me to him in the first place.  Somehow, it's easy to let those become lost in a river of discontent.  It all has to do with attitude.  I can have an attitude of gratitude for the good things or an attitude of ungratefulness, disappointment, and self-absorption.  We get to choose.

As one who has experienced both attitudes, may I assure you that life is sweeter when we focus on the positive and commit the rest to the only One Who can do anything about it!

Philippians 4:8 - "Finally, brethren, whatever is good, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."