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While I’m not too excited about it, I’m celebrating patience.  You see, my MOPS group is working through the book, The Love Dare.  And Day One was all about showing patience to your spouse.

Did you see the movie Fireproof?  It was an incredible movie starring Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains.   In the movie, the main character ‘Caleb’ works through a 40-day love dare journey to try to win back his wife through little tasks of unconditional love and commitment like saying nothing negative or doing something kind.  Each day carries a different task to be completed.  The book, The Love Dare is the real-life collection of challenges that Caleb follows in the movie.

So back to patience . . . The Love Dare authors share that the first pillar of love is patience.

“When you choose to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation.  You are slow to anger.  You choose to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper.  Rather than being restless and demanding, love helps you settle down and begin extending mercy to those around you.  Patience brings an internal calm during an external storm.”  

The dare for the first day was to demonstrate patience and say nothing negative to your spouse.   I read it in the evening and was geared up to complete my task the next day.  However, . . . well, first you should know that the cooking of bacon, unless done in the microwave, is forever banned in my house. I have had grease spilled on the counter, the stove top and all over my floor.  And when I say all over my floor, I mean all over!

So on the morning of my first dare, I was awakened to the smell of cooking sausage.  I’m not a fan of the smell.  It permeates my hair, my clothes and lingers in the house way too long for my liking.  Anyone else feel the same?

Dan was cooking up some leftover sausage for breakfast before heading out to work.  I knew this meant mess and cleanup aisle one, but I took a breath and went downstairs at which I was greeted with a good deal of smoke.  I bit my lip, smiled and said, “Wow, there is a lot of smoke in here.”  (That wasn’t negative, right?)  Dan disagreed, but I still went about opening the kitchen sliding door and the door to the garage.  Nothing like a burst of cold air at 6:30am!

After a few minutes, he acknowledged that he may have burned the sausage just a bit.  I nodded, vowing not to be negative.  Of course, this was my first challenge at patience.  I shared with him that Day One was about demonstrating patience.  He laughed and said well, at least he gave me something to blog about.

Yes, honey, you did.  But let’s just add sausage to the list of banned breakfast meats in the house…unless you grill it outside.  🙂  And, I think I probably gave you a harder time when you were on Day One!


How are you at demonstrating patience and extending mercy to those you love?  To read the introduction of the book and Day One as a sample chapter, click here.  To learn more, go to www.thelovedarebook.com.

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