T
Trishie
Guest
Christmas, vacation time, holidays, weekends, can be periods, not of marital or family happiness, but of stress and of argument.
Marriage should be happy, with mutual respect and kindness,
but for many people it is not.
In practical terms, for them, marriage is a kind of prison.
Where a spouse should be able to discuss, they are told what will happen.
Where their best efforts mostly go unappreciated and only criticized.
Where the spouse should be free to express their feelings and even their opinions, they are shut down.
And even in insignificant things, the spouse must comply, against better judgement and against intended kindness.
The violence this does to their inner selves is genuine damage.
And their children suffer damage, and live in wariness.
To live in fear of the other’s moods, their criticism, walking on eggshells, yet still the spouse or their child sometimes step wrongly in the other’s eyes. Any received kindness, if moments of kindness come, turn on a pinhead and in the next moment they are victims of anger and critism, so they learn not to trust even the kindnesses, and part of them dies. Even their feelings can become neutral where they should feel joyful.
And they live in fear that causes them to fearfully hide even reasonable issues that would otherwise draw fire.
They cry in secret and have a desperation within them that no one else can hear…
…except You our God.
Please have mercy and flood Your love and healing into the lives of spouses and children of those who make family life a kind of oppressive prison.
Mother Mary please pray for the many people in our world whose marriages are more a torment than a joy.
Marriage should be happy, with mutual respect and kindness,
but for many people it is not.
In practical terms, for them, marriage is a kind of prison.
Where a spouse should be able to discuss, they are told what will happen.
Where their best efforts mostly go unappreciated and only criticized.
Where the spouse should be free to express their feelings and even their opinions, they are shut down.
And even in insignificant things, the spouse must comply, against better judgement and against intended kindness.
The violence this does to their inner selves is genuine damage.
And their children suffer damage, and live in wariness.
To live in fear of the other’s moods, their criticism, walking on eggshells, yet still the spouse or their child sometimes step wrongly in the other’s eyes. Any received kindness, if moments of kindness come, turn on a pinhead and in the next moment they are victims of anger and critism, so they learn not to trust even the kindnesses, and part of them dies. Even their feelings can become neutral where they should feel joyful.
And they live in fear that causes them to fearfully hide even reasonable issues that would otherwise draw fire.
They cry in secret and have a desperation within them that no one else can hear…
…except You our God.
Please have mercy and flood Your love and healing into the lives of spouses and children of those who make family life a kind of oppressive prison.
Mother Mary please pray for the many people in our world whose marriages are more a torment than a joy.
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