What I have in common with Sarah

Last week I was struggling with my attitude pretty much every other minute. I absolutely needed a muzzle for my mouth so that I would stop snapping at my children. One morning I actually seriously considered putting some duct tape over my mouth. (Until one millisecond later when I thought of the pain of ripping it off and decided that would be a no.) And my husband-- oh, poor guy-- patiently put up with more criticism and irritability than anyone ever ought to. I wish I could say it was just an off week. But this does occur approximately once a month in my life, and in the lives of all who suffer living with me during that time. (My apologies to the one male reader who occasionally checks in --hi, Dan!-- but that's the extent of that kind of talk, I promise.)

This excerpt from John MacArthur's book Twelve Extraordinary Women gave me such hope. In this portion he is writing about Abraham's wife Sarah.

Let's be honest: there are times in the biblical account when Sarah comes off as a bit of a shrew. She was the wife of the great patriarch Abraham, so we tend to think of her with a degree of dignity and honor. But reading the biblical account of her life, it is impossible not to notice that she sometimes behaved badly. She could throw fits and tantrums. She knew how to be manipulative. And she was even known to get mean. At one time or another, she exemplified almost every trait associated with the typical caricature of a churlish woman. She could be impatient, temperamental, conniving, cantankerous, cruel, flighty, pouty, jealous, erratic, unreasonable, a whiner, a complainer, or a nag. By no means was she always the perfect model of godly grace and meekness.

On a week when I was displaying just about every single one of those unbecoming traits in the above list, I was so heartened to remember this part: Sarah's name was among those listed in Hebrews' Hall of Faith.

Oh, and because I spent most of last week being so cranky-- and making Mark feel so unlikeable-- I've purposed this week to go a bit out of my way to tell him how much I *do* like him! Each day this week I'm posting a new list up on the wall containing Reasons why I like Mark [today]...