Our son loves Hidden Pictures. It seems that he would sit on the couch for hours, if we would let him, and hunt for pictures that are hidden in bigger pictures.
As I was sitting with him recently, I started thinking about things that I don’t normally see. What if My wife is the ‘big picture’, and its up to me to find her ‘hidden pictures’?
What might that look like?
Hidden Pictures Can Change
As my wife and I continue to learn how to communicate and understand one another, it gets easier to navigate life well together. But many times, I don’t take into consideration that we are continually growing as human beings. Because of that, our hidden pictures can change. We gain different perspectives, we change our minds, gain a new insight, or start believing something different than we did previously.
For this reason, its important that I constantly keep looking for the ‘hidden pictures’ in my wife. Those things I wouldn’t normally see, or I would take for granted because I assume that I automatically know the answer because we had a conversation about it 5 years ago.
How to Find the Hidden Pictures in Your Spouse
Ask questions. I come back to asking questions often because I believe that when we aren’t asking questions, we are running off of old (and possibly invalid) information about our spouse. It’s also something that doesn’t come naturally to me (perhaps to other men as well). I tend to believe that once I got an answer on something, that answer will be the answer on that particular thing til the day I die. Many times, that just isn’t the case!
Slow down. Rushing through life, Not being present in the present, causes us to miss things that might be going on with our spouse. If we are rushing thru life, we don’t catch a look, or a gesture, a glance, or a movement that may indicate something below the surface.
Stop jumping to conclusions. When I forget that my wife and I are on the same team, I get in trouble. She isn’t out to get me — most times she has my best interest in mind — even though it may not seem that way. When I jump to the worst case scenario, I miss everything that is going on, because I begin focusing only on me…because I feel “under attack”. If I do the first two items on this list, jumping to conclusions is less likely to happen.
Take time to ask God what is going on. Sometimes it isn’t clear exactly what is going on with (or in) your spouse. Many times if we go to God, we are able to get a bigger perspective, and seek His wisdom and guidance. Even if we don’t’ get a clear answer or insight, many times our perspective changes because prayer refocuses us on God…not on the situation at hand.
Does this resonate with you? What have I left out?
PS – If you click the picture, you can spend some time finding the hidden pictures…a canoe, spectacles, football, orange slice, crown, ring, saltshaker, mallet, comb, teacup, flashlight, toothbrush, candle, key, and turtle. Enjoy!
photo courtesy highlightskids.com
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