Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

The Complete Husband
By Lou Priolo

Men and women tend to let themselves become bitter by feeding on negative stimulus and dwelling on it.  It is this bitterness that can tear at a marriage until it is destroyed.  Priolo lists 18 signs to look for to see if your husband is bitter:

1. Frequent arguments (inability to resolve conflicts)
2. Outbursts of anger (raising of the voice, throwing, hitting, etc.)
3. Withdrawal (giving her the silent treatment or the cold shoulder)
4. Diminished affection and sexual activity.
5. Sarcasm (mocking, ridiculing, mean-spirited joking, etc.)
6. Acts of vengeance (getting even or trying to hurt her back)
7. Condescending communication (speaking to her as though she were a child or an inferior person)
8. Criticism (a critical, condemnatory, judgmental attitude)
9. Suspicion and distrust
10. Hypersensitivity
11. Intolerance (not overlooking little offenses that once went unnoticed)
12. Impatience
13. Misuse of authority (domineering, dictatorial, or tyrannical attitudes which require needless exactions of obedience)
14. Lack of social interaction as a couple
15. Loss of companionship (the intimacy of the one flesh relationship is damaged and communication becomes superficial)
16. Lack of respect (dishonoring her to her face and in the presence of others)
17. Lack of kindness and sympathy
18. Angry children (who have been greatly provoked by their parents)

In order to overcome this bitterness, we must practice true forgiveness.  Forgiveness is making three promises:

1. I promise not to bring up the offense to the person being forgiven.
2. I promise not to speak about the offense to others.
3. I promise not to dwell on the offense myself.

Only then can you start on the path toward healing.

The Complete Husband
By Lou Priolo

If I were to ask you to name, in one word, what you think the root cause of all problems in marriage is, what word would you select?

Well, let’s think about the two greatest commandments: They are, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

There’s something that is a given in those statements– that you will love yourself.

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Hello all! I want to begin by saying that I am honored that MInTheGap asked me to be a part of this blog! It is a privilege to be involved here! Now for my introduction.

I am first and foremost a Christian, a child of the Most High God. This is a continual journey; one of sanctification, growth, and maturity. I am helpmeet to a wonderful man; one I am proud to say is the love of my life. He is a minister who is currently serving in the United States Air Force. I am reformed and covenantal in theology. My husband and I have been blessed with eight children(2 boys and 6 girls) thus far. Our household includes preschoolers, young adults (I strongly dislike the term teenagers), and several ages in between. I am a homeschooling mom and am in my 12th year of homeschooling. I homeschool using the Classical Christian method.
I am new to blogging, having only started in March of 2007. I love it! My personal blog, which is updated daily, is MamaArcher’s Blog. I have recently started and run a Quiverfull Blogroll and a Quiverfull Carnival. I also write periodically for a homeschooling newsletter, and this is going to be the third co-author blog that I will be contributing to. God has been and continues to be gracious and abundant in His blessing of online ministry for me and I pray that I can be an encouragement to others here; as well as receive encouragement from you.

As January comes to a close, February 1st approaches, which some refer to as Groundhog Day. It’s when Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his burrow to let the world know if winter is over, or if we’ll have six more weeks of it! What I’m reminded of each year with Groundhog Day is the ever popular 1993 movie with Bill Murray.

The movie is about a weather man who is asked to cover the groundhog day story for the fourth year in a row. However, awaking the following day he finds it to be groundhog day over and over and over again. At first, he uses this to his advantage, then comes to the realization that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing EVERY day. After the realization, he changes his attitude, behaviors and daily activities and awakes to February 3. Most people never experience the same day twice. As the saying goes, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”, unless you’re Bill Murray.

Ways to make a great first impression:

5) Avoid gum chewing.
4) Use eye contact.

3) Use good body language and stand up straight!

2) Be on time.

1) Proper handshake – no limp hands!

Blogging Mix is giving away 4 WordPress premium themes to four bloggers that participate in a competition he is running on his site.  I’ve looked through these themes before accidentally.  You see, I believe that Weekend Kindness would work well with the Revolution Magazine theme that they have on the site.  Why?

Because I’d like to see Weekend Kindness go from being simply a blog to more of a magazine type format with categories.  Each category would then have a sub category:

• Marriage

• Husband
• Wife
• Couple

• Expecting
• Young Kids
• Teens

• Friendships
• Dating / Courtship
• With the Lost

With the setup in Revolution Magazine, we could take advantage of the fact that it already has functionality to split up the types, and it would allow us to present more information in a great display then having it look like a blog.

The benefits of having this theme are the three columns layout that are linked with a category followed by short segments in the center column from other categories.  The home page content looks different regardless of whether one post or multiples were entered simply because there’s been a new post– and there are posts from every angle on the home page (not just one!)

What do you think?  Do you live Revolution Magazine?  Is something that would be ok if we won it, or would you like to go after it even if we don’t win?  Do you like this kind of organization?

I’ve been lurking on Weekend Kindness for a while now and I’ve been impressed by the level of maturity and the desire to continue to mature in the articles and comments here. As a young wife, I struggle constantly with maintaining godly relationships with the Lord, my husband, and so many others. I’ve been blessed to have an insanely wise father (Dad’s been a pastor, Navy chaplain, marriage and grief councilor.) and a terriffic host of strong Christians to walk with me as I grow.

One of my foremost passions is helping people realize that God isn’t this imperonal diety, but a close friend. For some reason, I’ve always viewed Jesus as my fianc? – my groom, not the father-figure or king-figure that most people see. He’s the lover who wants an intimate relationship with me. I suppose, to me, behind the veil of the Holy of Holies lies more than an altar. It is my groom’s bedchamber.

I think seeing Jesus in this light helps me have a right relationship with others – it’s a different type of motivation to do so. When I’m bad God isn’t a disobeyed parent so much as a heartbroken lover. When I’m good God isn’t a proud parent so much as an elated husband.

This past weekend was the worst in terms of trying to manage sickness in our house. It seems like everyone was either sick with the head cold or stomach bug, and let me tell you, that’s not fun. Fortunately we’re on the the other side, right now, but as I was sharing this with Mrs. Meg Logan she asked:

You learn anything in it?

To which I have to say– yes. Yes I have.

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