Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. James 1:19
You’re exhausted from a long day at work.
Arriving home, you plop into your chair.
You smell something slightly off, but ignore it.
Doesn’t seem important.
Your spouse comes to you, mentioning the smell.
Since you have decided it’s not important, you inform your spouse it’s nothing.
After all, your authority stands as gospel.
In the middle of the night, you are awakend by a smoke filled room.
Coughing, you can barely breathe.
Together, you both slowly crawl out of the bedroom, barely escaping the raging fire.
Standing in the yard, you survey your house, now engulfed in flames.
You’ve lost everything.
And so has your spouse.
Everything except for each other.
If only you had listened to her, your home would still be standing.
The tiny flame would have been easy to stamp out.
But the tiny flame grew into a total loss.
Nothing left.
Daily we must be on the lookout for smoke. Warnings.
Comes in a variety of ways through your job, finances, habits, and relationships.
Satan does not want your marriage to thrive.
He wants to whisk away your children.
He wants to distract you from your relationship with God.
And he wants to destroy your peace on earth.
Be on alert, reacting with those Holy Spirit nudges.
Takes humility. Perseverance. Strength. Focus.
But God’s here, standing by your side with all the tools you could possibly need.
In fact, when you place your faith and trust daily in Him, He’ll help you smell that smoke the moment it erupts.
May we listen to the hearts of others God uses to speak through.
May we honor the thoughts of our spouse, because then we honor the thoughts of God.
May our habits reflect the nudges of God as we obey His plans for us.
May we cover the flame of conflict with humble godliness before our ignorance causes us to loose everything.
Photos by Kilian Seiler, Steven Weeks, Piotr Chrobot, & Olivia Snow on Unsplash
Amy Linnea 
You must be logged in to post a comment.