Don't Give Up

The jokes are plentiful ...

husband/wife, daughter-in-law/mother-in-law, in-laws in general.

I don't like the jokes.

I don't like the generalizations.

But perhaps you have seen your real life reflected in the jokes.

I have to say that I did not always have the best relationship with my MIL.

And I get it ... I really do.

I was so different.

Can you imagine a girl who had never hunted?

...had never even shot a gun?

...was not versed in camping?

and then wore a skirt for ALL activities?

Then she adopted strange dietary habits!

It just didn't make sense.

The chasm was wide.

And add to that that her son had changed.

After nearly 20 years, the suppositions became comical.

She thought that he made me walk everywhere.

She thought that I made him eat healthy.

In truth, I was the one who would prefer to walk anywhere

and he was the discipline I needed to properly care for my body with my meals.

We learned to get along.

And in the last days, I may have known more about her than almost anyone.

I became her companion and nurse.

Not only that, but I was changed.

I realized that there were things that I could change to be more relatable.

Jewelry and makeup and purses were important to her.

And they were not to me.

But in order to minister, I remembered to put a little blush on in the morning,

I learned to accessorize (and maybe even like it a bit),

I tried to vary my handbags.

It was my way of "becoming all things to all people."

All this to say,

I don't know what difficult relationship you face,

but there is hope.

Cling to a Biblical Principle.

For me it was our reason for moving to Oregon and helped in the hard days.

"If any will not care for his own, he is worse than an infidel."

So keep praying

and do what you can to keep the peace.

The resolution may be right around the corner.