LOVE
I just finished reading these two chapters on the element of LOVE, and I am a little overwhelmed. There is a lot of practical strategy for application, which is great. I think at this point I am struggling with wondering how I am going to remember all these things when it comes time to actually apply them. Even more than that, I am concerned because I typically do not move toward other people in this way, and I begin to wonder if I really love others at all.
I guess in the midst of these thoughts, Tripp’s words remind me that I am still a work in progress also. I have begun to see God working in me to view my relationships in a redemptive light, although I often still don’t feel like putting in the effort. Tripp’s example of the marriage in conflict in chapter seven really struck a chord in me, especially after the conflict my fiancée and I went through the other day.
I think I realized that God was at work in that particular situation, yet because of the guilt I was feeling did not know how to introduce this fact for fear that I would be seen as trying to take the attention off of my wrongdoing. However, bringing to the foreground what God was doing in the midst of that struggle would have allowed us to shift our focus more off ourselves and the ‘redemptive purposes’ we had for each other, and to look for God’s redemptive purposes.
Also, with respect to entering the person’s world, in my initial conversations with my fiancée I did not seek to understand her experience of the situation. I was thankful that I had not, by God’s grace, given in to temptation; for me, the issue ended there. I was not keen to the fact that knowing I had been struggling with the temptation was causing her to struggle. Thus, her experience of the situation was different from mine, and I didn’t take the time to see that. I pray that God will give me a heart that is more in tune to her perspective, and that I will be able to apply this principle in other relationships also.
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