Cue the waterworks as I go into my sob story of trying to do something nice for my husband by surprising him with a cost-efficient alternative to the pricey Sleep Number bed. I told him all about the “Sleep Mumber” and its high customer rating. (OK, I made that part up!) I was hoping we’d giggle together and order some pizza, but he knew I had gotten some knock-off blow-up, ghetto version of the real thing. And he soon learned that there was no return policy!
We finally got the bed put together, but Ron’s side of the bed started to sag. It was slow at first, with it leaking a little bit of air in the middle of the night. So night after night, he would have to pump up his side of the bed to the extra-firm setting, only to awaken the next morning with splinters from the wooden bed slats in his back.
He got crankier and crankier each day he had to do this. I, of course, told him he had two clear options: 1) fix the thing or 2) sleep on the couch. (I think I was secretly voting for option two because I’d get a few snore-free nights.)
Leave it to a bit of ingenuity—Ron saved the day! Well, actually, duct tape saved the day. Ron climbed under the bed and taped the hole in the mattress’ air hose, and it worked like a charm. We had no more leaks! So, whoever says duct tape can’t save a marriage obviously hasn’t tried hard enough.
That was almost nine years ago, and our Sleep Mumber bed is still hanging in there! And so is my marriage. It can be hard sometimes, but I am so thankful that I have an understanding and loving husband. I’m sure he wanted to kill me that night, but instead of working against me, he worked with me. Marriage can be like that. Often we make decisions that can be hard on a marriage, but if you have Christ in the center of your marriage, you can learn to forgive and forget. In my case, we might end up buying stock in a chiropractor’s office, but love still abides.
Take a moment to think about this:
1. Have you ever bought something that caused a riff in your marriage? How did you work it out?
2. How has Christ’s love and forgiveness for you taught you how to forgive others?
Prayer: Lord, thank You for an understanding and loving spouse. Please help me to be more Christlike and understanding to him and to others. Thank You for loving me with all of my faults and helping me to be a better wife and mother. Amen.
Called Hollywood’s “God Girl,” Kerri Pomarolli is an accomplished actress, comedian, published author, Christian speaker and veteran of television—with credits that include 29 appearances on The Tonight Show and Comedy Central. She is the author of the newly released Moms’ Night Out and Other Things I Miss: Devotions to Help You Survive. For more information, visit KerriPom.com.
