Quotes about Understanding

Let us become intentional to use personal slights, inconveniences, acts of gossip and slander, times of difficulty, and even sickness as opportunities to grow in patience and understanding and humility instead of bitterly resenting each one.

Understanding the truth is the doorway to new life. And understanding the truth often requires the use of labels. Honoring someone, whether that person is a boss, parent, or spouse, doesn't mean we have to pretend they're something they're not. Honoring and honesty can exist side by side.

Wisdom says we should try to make a relationship work not because we have strong feelings but because it's a good match.

What if I ran all my actions through this grid: "If my son-in-law treated my daughter the way I'm treating my wife, how would I feel?" Men, that's the way what you're doing looks like to God. Women, just switch the genders. Imagine hearing your (perhaps future) daughter-in-law talking to her friends about your son with the same tone and words you use to describe your husband: How does that feel?

Humility is about the little things in life, and marriage is 90 percent small stuff. We don't build humility on giant gestures as much as forge it with consistent, thoughtful actions day after day.

Start these conversations with questions that seek understanding, not with accusations that seek submission.

Infatuation fills your eyes with what you're getting, but let the Bible fill your mind with what you're committing to give.

The assumption is that loving their husbands is an unnatural skill that wives must learn — better yet, we could describe it as a supernatural skill.

I think we need the same attitude with our marriage. All of us experience certain things about our spouses that may be difficult for us to accept.

Marriage isn't about rights as much as it is about revelation.

I'd get bored with myself if I was married to me, so it only makes sense that Lisa might occasionally be bored—or at least grow weary—of living with me. But God delights in both of us. God appreciates our quirks and understands our hearts' good intentions even when they might be masked by incredibly stupid behavior.

Just when we are most eager to make ourselves understood, we must strive to understand. Just when we seek to air our grievances, we must labor to comprehend another's hurt. Just when we want to point out the fallacies and abusive behavior of someone else, we must ruthlessly evaluate our own offensive attitudes and behaviors.