«NOTHING WILL HINDER YOUR PRAYERS”
”Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of Iile, so that nothing will hinder your prayers” (1 Peter 3:7, NIV).
ON THE DAY of his wedding (January 29, 1958), Paul Newman, the famous actor who was married to Joanne Woodward for fifty years, wrote her a letter in which he shared part of the poem “The Art of Marriage’’ by Wilferd Arlan Peterson:
- Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
- A good marriage must be created. In marriage the little things are the big things.
- It is never being too old to hold hands.
- It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day….
- It is not looking for perfection in each other.
- It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
- It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.”
We would do well to carefully read and apply each of the valuable recommendations that are mentioned in the poem. One of them particularly caught my attention: «In marriage the little things are the big things.” Ignoring the importance of little things creates the basis for big marital problems.
Solomon had already said so: «Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom» (Song of Solomon 2:15, NIV). In this verse, the vineyard is a metaphor that refers to a loving relationship. There is a destructive force, ready to launch its fierce attack against the family, and that force is manifested in elements that are small and imperceptible to human eyes, such as «pride, selfishness, jealousy, lust, bad habits, and lack of trust.“”
A home in which the husband and wife understand what their duties are, in which they pay attention to the little things, will be a place that acknowledges that both are “heirs … of the gracious gift of life.” And when both spouses are committed to each other, God promises that “nothing will hinder [their] prayers“ (1 Peter 3:7, NIV).
*Wilferd A. Peterson, “The Art of Marriage,” in The New Book of the Art of living (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961), p. 44.
**Roland Cap Ehlke, Eclesiastés, Cantar de los Cantares. eds. John C. Jeske and John A. Trapp, La Biblia Popular (Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (The People’s Bible)] (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Northwestern Publishing House, 2002), p. 166.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Avineyda Hernandez