I have a serious problem…

When it comes to housework, I’ve created a sticky situation. I complain when my husband doesn’t help with housework. Then I criticize when he does. Am I the only wife who repeatedly asks her husband to load the dishwasher, only to rearrange everything five minutes later? Poor fella can’t win.

Proverbs 27:15 tell us, “A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day.” Since I’m not very quarrelsome, obviously this verse doesn’t apply to me. I’m not actually picking a fight. He should be happy I’m showing him a better way to do what he’s doing, right? Wouldn’t you be glad if someone showed you the best way to fold a towel?

But then I read further. . Verse 16 says, “Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.” When I read this I think of our littles getting out of the bath. Those first few minutes when they’re wet and slippery. We’re trying to get them dressed, and they just want to run around naked yelling, “Booty, booty!” Some nights it’s funny. Other nights it’s frustrating and feels like trying to hold something with greased hands.

A different version of these verses smacks me right in the face.
“A nagging spouse is like
    the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
You can’t turn it off,
    and you can’t get away from it.” (The Message)

My husband is an incredible husband and father. If you knew how much he helps around the house and spent time with our children you would shame me. Yet, my OCD tendencies make me gravitate toward the way he does things, rather than the help itself. Drip, drip, drip…

The irony in all of this is our kitchen sink started dripping last month. So irritating. If you don’t push the handle to a certain spot, it runs or drips, wasting water and money. We keep saying we’re going to replace it, but don’t. It’s only getting worse, so repairing or replacing it is inevitable.

Like my dripping sink, I’m wasting time and energy by complaining. I keep saying I will do something about it, then I don’t. But enough is enough.

I’ve made a goal to replace my drippy droppy mouth with a mouthful of gratefulness. For an entire month, I’m not going to complain. I will appreciate everything he does. Instead of criticizing, I will thank him.

I’m hoping this lasts longer than an hour and a half.