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Key Bible Verse: "If only I had someone who would listen to me and try to see my side!" (Job 31:35). Bonus Reading: Song of Songs 5:6

When a man wonders how he end-ed up married to a nag, the mirror might be the first place to look for an answer. A woman who feels unheard will talk louder, longer, and more often. She's beating on the door to her husband's heart. He didn't answer when she knocked gently.

Uncompromised time with a life partner is a quiet center too precious to neglect. In terms of the ravages of stress, it is both an ounce of prevention and a pound of cure. It's a time to listen to the most important voice on earth. The marriage commitment implies putting the partner first. That's almost impossible to do if she can't regularly get onto your agenda.

A woman without that husband "huddle time" unconsciously starts a buildup that will one day blow like a volcano. If she consistently feels unheard, she'll eventually feel unloved. The Bible warns, "Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: … an unloved woman who is married" (Proverbs 30:21 23, NIV). A wife may be loved by her husband but not feel loved. She craves a oneness built only through daily debriefings.

—Ron Hutchcraft in Living Peacefully in a Stressful World

My Response: Have I cultivated a daily "debriefing" time with my wife?

Thought to Apply: We all know the pain of not being listened to, of not being heard. … In a way not to be heard is not to exist. —Margaret Guenther (writer)

Adapted from Living Peacefully in a Stressful World (Discovery, 1985, 2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to honor You in the way I communicate—both on the giving and receiving ends.

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