TOD 10.09.07

In most marriages, there are times when people don’t really feel like they are one flesh together. It’s not this way at the start, when both spouses are so caught up in the joy of each other that they forget about being separate. But somewhere down the line, their craving to be together diminishes and they remember their own desires and views.

At these times, they get to learn a brand new skill: working to be one flesh when the feeling of it isn’t strong. The best tool for this is apologizing. But many people, having long been convinced of their own splendidness, misunderstand what it means to admit fault. Apologizing does not require that I was completely wrong. It simply requires that I was not completely Christlike.

And if Jesus is right that we are to be perfect as God is perfect, then surely I can apologize whenever I am imperfect. As I do so, I lead the way back to unity with my wife and away from being my own man, which I no longer am.