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I heard the following story on 700 Club this morning, and loved it!  It’s found in a book by Gary Chapman called “LOVE IS A VERB!”.
www.garychapman.org
 

DRINKING MILK WITH A SPOON

Doris and Duane were blessed with a 47-year marriage when Duane died. After his memorial service, Doris’ friend Kathy asked, “How did you and Duane manage to have such a loving and close family?” Doris found that she was receiving this comment from others at the service as well. She remembered a time when her marriage wasn’t always idyllic.

 
One winter evening, Doris realized that her love for her husband no longer existed. Duane, her husband of 11 years at that time, was drinking his chocolate milk with a spoon. He did this because it helped him limit his chocolate milk intake to just one glass. It wasn’t only the clinking that bothered Doris; she realized she found him difficult to live with. They married young, had three children, and decided divorce was not an option for either of them.
 
Upon pondering more about her marriage, she had a sudden urge to get out a pencil and paper and write out a list of her husband’s faults. When she finished, she only had five negative traits on the paper. She tried to add to the list but couldn’t. On another sheet of paper, she wrote out Duane’s good qualities. This list was long and included many characteristics that attracted her to Duane in the first place. Doris saw this and thought that Duane was a good man and wondered why she felt so hostile toward him.
 
Then, she made a list of her own good and bad qualities. She found that her good qualities list was only slightly longer than Duane’s bad list. She then wondered why Duane was married to her. She decided to read Duane’s good qualities list several times a day and worked on changing her behavior. She soon gained a new respect for her husband and she treated Duane better. He treated her with a renewed love and respect…and even stopped drinking his chocolate milk with a spoon! The lesson in this story is to put faults into perspective.