Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16-16 NIV
“You never listen to me!”
“You always have something else to do!”
“You never want to spend time with me!”
You always want to spend money!”
Have you figured out what the two words are yet?
ALWAYS
NEVER
Chances are, she does listen to you sometimes, and he doesn’t spend all his time elsewhere. I’m guessing he really does want to spend time with her and she probably doesn’t really want to spend all the money.
Always and never make the hurt so.much.worse.
because now, all the times that she did listen are invalidated.
All the time he spent with her is meaningless.
He doesn’t want to spend time with her now that he knows that’s how she feels
and why shouldn’t she spend all the money now if that’s what he really thinks?
Two little adverbs. Adverbs are words that modify another word. That add depth to the phrase or meaning.
“You don’t listen to me”
You never listen to me”
“You had something else to do”
“You always have something else to do”
See the difference?
FEEL the difference?
So does your spouse.
So stop it.
Unless she really does spend ALL the money, stop saying it.
Unless he really doesn’t ever want to spend any time with you, stop telling him that. Who would want to spend time with someone who keeps insisting they don’t care?
Think about that….
They become what’s called self-fulfilling prophecies.
If you say it enough for long enough it becomes true.
Lord God, I pray for restraint. I pray for your holy hand to wrap around the mouths of those who use always and never to hurt the ones they love. I pray that one person gets it, that one phrase could be toned down to stop making the problem worse. I pray that we would talk to each other instead of at each other, and I pray that we remember, even in our hurt, that we push forward to glorify you.
