Day 29- Let's Make a Deal

Today I read about a deal between Pausch and his mother. Since he was little, he always leaned back in her dining room chair and she would say, "Don't lean back, you are going to break the chair." As a grad student, Pausch came up with a solution: a contract. He and his mother made a deal that if his leaning back ever broke the chair, he would buy her an entirely new dining room set. The chair never broke, but after that deal there was no more bickering over the chair legs. He claims the dynamic changed almost entirely to the mom wanting him to break the chair so she could get a new dining room suit!

This chapter comes in part V of TLL series entitled "It's About How to Live Your Life." So what am I to learn from the dining room chair story? Hold on... I'm thinking...

Okay, my take on it is ironically "don't sweat the small stuff" and pick your hills carefully. Is this the hill you want to die on? If not, dream up a compromise. Don't let small issues consume your limited time on earth.

Yesterday my husband and I got into an argument over our son's dinner. I was upset that he was eating pizza- yet again- over something more nutritious, like the pork tenderloin we were having. My husband also heaped out a pool of ranch for our son to dip the pizza in. Things escalated quickly after I made a comment regarding the food. I thought we were headed for a monumental fight and some ugly words were exchanged. However, I needed a shower so I went upstairs and took one.

While I was in the shower, it hit me how much time and energy my husband and I had just wasted on arguing. The issue was food, not something to start a war over. Additionally, he had worked all day and then came home to fix supper for our family, no doubt he felt attacked by my words. So, as hard as it was, I swallowed my pride and apologized. And you know what, he apologized right back. We were able to spend the rest of the night happily taking care of our family instead of fighting.

Hopefully, I can take the lesson of Making a Deal and compromise and use it in our marriage. Without a doubt, we waste time on trivial issues when we should be focused on loving and appreciating each other. Time to work on that.

--Dear God, I ask that you help me to see the "deals" that can be made in situations and avoid arguing with my husband and others. I pray that you help me to see the calm within the storm and take that path of least resistance. Amen.