Confrontation Misdirected

My wife and I will have been married 30 years this September (yes, 9/11 in fact).  We agreed early on that I would be in charge of all the major stuff and she would take care of all the minor issues.  Amazingly, in 30 years, nothing major has come up!

But seriously, if something had come up, could we have dealt with the issue well?  Could we have managed to find a realistic solution to any problem, even if it demanded...confrontation?

It seems that the heart barely hangs on sometimes; as if on a thread, it gets tossed to and fro by the unpredictable wind.  Whatever else the heart might be attached to, then swings in the breeze and takes a beating as well.  One has to wonder:  Will the children thrive?  Will the soul survive?  Will the mind and spirit endure?  When the whole system is anchored in God's will, is suspended by His Spirit, and is surrounded by the way, the truth and the life, each new confrontation can ultimately resound in complementary and ringing tones.

The chimes you see here, we bought probably in 1984.  My wife (My Lilly) loves wind chimes, and we even have a few small sets hanging under our bedroom ceiling fan.  One night back in 1989 or so, we had a nasty "confrontation".  As I stormed out the door onto the deck of our newly bought home in Alaska, and headed toward the stairs, I took an angry swing at the first thing I saw; our lovely wind chimes.  As the cord was ripped out of God's good will, and flew now unsupported by the Spirit's tether, His way, truth, and life came crashing to the ground in a discordant clatter.  When I settled down I remember being so relieved to find that, by His grace, the chimes were all right, and so were Kiki and I.

I replaced all the wooden parts of the old chimes a few years ago.  The top support wheel was
splitting, and was covered in lichens, the clapper was cracked and moldy, and the poor little heart, which was originally just a thin piece of veneered plywood, was separating and broken.  Over the years, with Christ as our mutual head, and despite many sad and frustrating confrontations, our overlying support is stronger than ever, and our heart of love is solid and new.  The clapper?  Yes, the clapper is again as rough and tough as it was at first.  The songs of conflict still ring out loudly, but the quality of the tone, more and more determined by His conducting, is sweeter than ever.