A wife says, “If you don’t know yourself, how can you know me? You can’t! And, I want you to know me.”

Her husband responds, “I do know you! I can read you pretty well. I can anticipate lots of your moves. And, I can speak about things that sets you off.”

He continues, “I can convey your likes and dislikes. I can tell others about your good qualities. I can even repeat some of your exact thoughts.”

Finally, he says “I can state facts about your growing up years, point out your strengths and weaknesses, and I can repeat some of your religious beliefs.”

His wife continues speaking, “Yes, I agree you know those things. But, you don’t want to know me emotionally. You change when I am emotional. If I get weak, scared, or express hurt, suddenly you’re in a hurry. You want to wrap up the conversation and get away.

Relationship Insights

• If a husband avoids emotional struggles and deep conversations, he can only grow a shallow relationship.
• If a husband thinks emotional conflict only ends in pain, hurt, and more wounding, he won’t engage.
• If a husband has never experienced the power of a deep, emotional connection, then he naturally will have difficulty leading his wife there.

Prayer

Father, I need your help. My wife is inviting me into a place that I have never wanted to go. She wants me to be emotional and enter her wounded places. Wounds and emotional language scare me. I hate the thought of going back into old wounds and being in childhood pain. Please help me go forward in growth and healing. Amen.

Meditate on this thought.

What was the Holy Spirit saying when he wrote these words through Paul?

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)