Screw-ups

Is there anything more frustrating that listening to things coming out of your mouth, and not having the ability to either reel them back in or stop yourself from saying even more to make it worse! I found myself saying something that implied something totally different than what I intended. And I started to think that shutting up would be better than trying to explain.

I wanted to correct a teaching that spoke the "maleness" of God while not speaking of the 'femaleness' of God.

I wanted to remind them how both male AND female are made in the image of God. I wanted to say how seeing your husband as being made in the image of God or seeing your wife as being made in the image of God changes how we should relate to each other in the intimacy of marriage.

Seeing my husband as God's creation, and seeing his best qualities as portraying a little of the goodness of God, changes how I view him, how I interact with him, how I treat him in everything from a disagreement to making decisions, to our interactions in the intimacy of the bedroom.

Thus, seeing one's wife as being made in the image of God, as portraying, in her best qualities, the goodness of God, his nurture, his wisdom, his motherly love, changes the way he treats her, respects her, interacts with her inside and outside the marital bedchamber.

Stating, or even implying by omission, that the image of God rests more heavily in one sex than the other is a disservice to both men and women. It devalues one over the other, and creates a brokenness in relationship that can not be easily overcome.. Neither is it biblically correct.

But alas, my comments came out sounding like I was preaching the equality of the sexes... implying the right to leadership, the neutralness of marital roles, etc. As soon as I said the word "equality" I knew that I wasn't going to be able to reverse the images that were forming in thier heads... that I couldn't go back to the moment before that word was spoken. It was not what I intended to say, nor what I meant to imply (no matter what I personally believe). It was specifically the respect of one's spouse, whether male nor female, grounded in respect for God, that I wanted to address.

Ah.... mispoken words and unguarded eyes... sighs that are too loud and shoulders that slump. Despite our best intentions to keep our thoughts and feelings under guard, we betray ourselves at every turn.

(sigh)