“Comfortable”

Jake drove over to the next county to buy a new bull for the farm. It cost more than expected, and he was left with only one dollar. This was a problem since he needed to let his wife know that he’d bought the bull so she could come get it with the truck–and telegrams cost a dollar a word. He thought for a while and said, “Go ahead and just make it this one word: comfortable.” “How’s that going to get your point across?” asked the clerk. “Don’t worry,” said Jake. “Sue’s not the greatest reader. She’ll say it real slow” (via THE FURROW, March 2010, p. 28).

How is your communication in marriage? Do you know your mate well enough to know how best to give and receive messages? Sometimes we get so comfortable that we begin to make assumptions about what our spouse knows and understands. How can we dwell together in knowledge without making the investment in one another, an investment that includes time, talking, and attention (cf. 1 Pet. 3:7)? Such biblical mandates as “love” (Eph. 5:25; Ti. 2:4) and “submission” (Eph. 5:22-24) cannot be properly obeyed without knowing one another and communicating.

We should be comfortable with each other, at ease and not on pins and needles in a marriage. How miserable that must be! Yet, when comfortable means presumption and assumption we may be in more trouble than a man with a bull and no way to get him home! Let’s become comfortable with communicating.

Neal Pollard