Roses & Thorns:

Jon:

• Rose – When Angie baked me cookies and spending a nice relaxing rainy weekend together.
• Thorn – When Angie got sick, discovering a mold issue in our apartment and the negative pregnancy test.

Angie:

• Rose – Booking our Hawaii trip!
• Thorn – The negative pregnancy test, discovering and dealing with the mold issue in our apartment and being sick, ugh!

Weekly Discussion Topic/Question:  What are some words that describe your vision for this year?  What do you want to accomplish?

Jon:  Plan, save, love, accomplish goals, travel, together, team.

Angie:  Organize, baby, money, home, keto/dieting, clean, de-clutter, business, happy, healthy, success, school/education.

Our three goals for this year: Make a long term and short term goal plan (one year, three year, five year and ten year), reorganize, declutter and clean to prepare for moving and spend less and save more.

Devotional/Book Reading: Where Change Begins taken from Gary Chapman’s The One Year Love Language Minute Devotional

“Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?…. First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” – Matthew 7:3, 5

Synopsis: It is simple, we are quick to judge others and speak about how they could improve but fail to understand our own flaws and needs for improvement.  This is specifically true among spouses.  We often times think that situations would be better if our spouse would just change, and that may be true, but we also need to make changes if we want to see real improvement.

Our takeaway:  Jon and I both agree that this is a true statement.  While we have come a long way in understanding our own faults, we can still improve.  This reading suggests a once a week discussion between spouses, where you ask for one suggestion on how you can be a better spouse.  We felt this was a good idea and will start including this in our weekly discussions.  This week Jon asked that I communicate when I need help as he thinks it will eliminate some disagreements and frustration.  This week I asked Jon to continue to take initiative on things that need to get done (he’s been doing a great job, by the way).

I suggest you incorporate this question into the discussions you have with you spouse.  As mentioned in this post, we are not mind readers and must communicate our needs.  Only then can our spouse act on those suggestions.  In the same breath, we have to be able to accept suggestions from our spouse and be willing to make strides towards those suggestions.  Through communication and action we are able to maintain a healthy marriage.

Please share your rose and thorn for the week!  What are some of the words that describe the vision for your year?  Do you have anything you want to accomplish in particular?  Please share!