Marriage Moats-Froggy
Published: Sat, 09/04/21
| Froggy | Caring for Marriage |
 One of the clever things about fairy tales is that they are One Size Fits All.
In the one about the frog who turns into a prince, each person listening gets to figure out what warts they have that need transformation. The story spinner takes you skillfully up to your front door, but then plunks you down on the threshold. It is up to you to bring it into where you live.
Rumpelstiltskin lost his power when the girl could name him. I notice my own demons become more manageable when I articulate them.
"Ok, I am afraid of failure. I can step over that."
"She hurt my feelings once a long time ago. That makes me nervous, but today can be different." Plus the characters can provide inspiration for our own uncertainties. The Ugly Duckling was brave in spite of being rejected. I can choose that too. Maybe I will turn into a swan. Cinderella had cruel circumstances but she did not choose to be bitter. I can as well. People tell and retell these fables as if they are somehow ever new. Perhaps they are.
I am never saturated of hearing other people's stories either. In my small group last week I listened to a woman thank her husband for remembering to pray right before they faced a decision. I made the brilliant connection that prayer would help me in my own marital crossroads. The same night another woman described how she phoned her husband when she was lost and he helped her find her way, and I had a surge of gratitude for
the many times I have called John in a panic over finding myself off course.
The people talking did not need to moralize.
"Now Lori, can you think of a time when you could have prayed in your marriage?"
"I appreciate my husband, so you should too. Don't you agree?"
The fairy tales and conversations make it easy, and even painless to look at my own choices through the guise of observing someone else's.
Love, Lori Photo by Jenny Stein
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