We pray that you and your spouse are growing closer together and learning how you can invest more intentionally in your marriage.
A trip to my parents’ home always includes a glance at their current coffee table Reader’s Digest. That small publication has been a staple in their home for as long as I can remember, and I absolutely adore it! My best jokes come from “All in a Day’s Work” and my English SAT score was fabulous thanks to “Word Power.”
A recent article was a complete snooze-fest for me because it was about helpful household hacks. Cleaning baseboards with a dryer vent? Nope! Use a hair dryer to banish water rings? Hard pass! BUT THEN, I saw something that got my attention—the dreaded dryer vent fire.
I’ve been fearful of a house fire since I snuck into the living room as a kid and secretly watched Stephen King’s Firestarter from behind the couch. The thought of drying my towels being a fire hazard made me keep reading. Some of the signs of a clogged dryer vent are:
- large amount of build-up in lint trap
- debris noticed within the outside dryer vent
- excessive heat in room where dryer is located
I tore out the article (sorry, Mom) and showed it to my husband, with an urgent plea for us to head to Lowes to buy a drill, a cleaning brush, and two long rods. If Reader’s Digest said this was a way to quell my fears, let’s do it!
As we started the vent cleaning process, the lint was swirling around our home and making a mess in my neighbors’ yards. The lint alone that came from our vent wasn’t scary, but it was the huge amount of it and the danger of it blocking airflow.
I then felt a God-sized thump on my heart. Could a clogged dryer vent be an analogy of the frustration we can sometimes feel toward our spouses? What if there are things that we can do to keep our relationships sparkling and not at risk to go up in flames?
Scripture teaches that Paul was a tentmaker, but let’s picture him wearing firefighter gear when he taught the Ephesians, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
What about you? Can you think of any “lint” building in your heart or marriage that, left unattended, could be dangerous to your relationship? Is there anything that needs to be “put away from you” so new life can emerge?
Be praying and look expectantly for God to show you areas in your relationship that He is prompting you to bring to light. Our Lord has a great record of showing His glory when invited.
May God bless your marriage,
Elaine
