An apology

Graeme and I have days where we don't see eye to eye.

On Sunday, we were invited to the spray park in Fort Saskatchewan with some friends after church. We had to come home first to grab the kids' swimming gear. I ran out to the van, realizing the boys hadn't been to the bathroom since before church, and asked Graeme to run the boys in quickly for a potty break.

He gave me a big sigh and made some sort of comment, letting me know that I was seriously inconveniencing him by making such a request.

The day went downhill from there. I couldn't do anything quite *right*, and I basically spent the rest of the day running the house and doing my thing, staying out of the way of his grumpy self.

Monday was tense. Short. Cold.

Monday night, he took my hand in bed and said, "I'm sorry for being such a jerk the last couple of days."

I was stunned and didn't know what to say. I'd spent the entire day protecting myself... surviving.

Truth is, when your other half is hurting, you hurt, too. You compensate in various ways. For the record, Graeme isn't a jerk, usually, but there are some things going on right now that are really draining us both. It affects him more than me, but it's a big load for both of us.

On Tuesday, I texted him and told him, "I forgive you." He said it was the happiest thing he could've heard all day.

Later that day, as I was playing with the boys in the back yard, I received a delivery from him:

We all shared them for dessert after supper that night. There were 30 of these chocolate-covered strawberries in this Edible Arrangement bouquet... it was to die for. SO good! He MUST have felt pretty bad to send me a peace offering like this... I don't even want to see the visa bill to find out how much it cost him. There are times when I worry too much about money...it's a good thing he's the breadwinner, because I'm not sure I would've justified spending whatever this thing cost.

He knows how much I love chocolate covered strawberries. Usually I end up making them, though, once a year, for Valentine's Day. We had these on our wedding night, though not in a bouquet.

I suppose he can be a bit of a jerk once in a while, if this is how he apologizes! (Note: it was HIM who labelled himself that way, not me!)

Or maybe he can just skip the grumpies and bring home strawberries and dipping chocolate and I can make them on my own. I'd be OK with that, too.

Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 (New International Version)

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 (Amplified Bible)

⁴Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
⁵It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
⁶It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
⁷Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
¹³And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 (New Living Translation)

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. ¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.


1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 (The Message)

^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.