Love is Patient
KIM BARNES | CONTRIBUTOR Today I had an early breakfast meeting and left while my husband, Robert, was still in bed. When I got home, our bed was made. Later he noticed that the floor was dirty, so he mopped it. This afternoon, when I burned something in the oven, he came to my rescue, not only soaking the very messy pan but scrubbing it clean an hour later. My husband is not the man I married nearly 35 years ago. A Lesson in Early Marriage We were newlyweds—married just a few months—when I came home from my stressful job to find our apartment in chaos. Robert worked as our church's youth director, which meant he worked many nights and weekends and was often home during the day. That afternoon, I arrived to find dishes piled up, an unmade bed, and beard trimmings filling the bathroom sink. It wasn't the first time, and something in me snapped. I lost it. I went on a rant about my husband's slovenliness and his lack of regard for me. Obviously, I posited, if he really loved me then he'd understand that I value a tidy space, and he'd want to please me by cleaning up before I came home exhausted. I jumped to all sorts of conclusions and made wild accusations about his character and attitude toward me. Robert listened to my tirade with remarkable composure. When I finally paused for breath, he looked me straight in the eye and very calmly asked, "Did I mislead you? Are you surprised that the guy with the messy, disorganized apartment that you fell in love with continues to be messy and disorganized after getting married?" His question stopped me in my tracks...