Operation Mouth Guard, Day 1

I've decided to try something out for the month. My mission: to say nothing of a critical nature to my husband for a whole month, and, as part of that, to focus on being only encouraging and positive in my words.

I gave myself a time limit so I wouldn't get discouraged, so I'd have an attainable goal, and so I could (hopefully) start a new habit without overloading! :) (Thanks to flylady.com for this piece of advice on forming new habits and not biting off more than I can chew.)

These are the guidelines I've worked out so far:

~ no "sarcastic" comments (since they're really only my way of cowardly nitpicking, anyway, and they never seem to change anything for the better!)

~ no "valid" points. I'm choosing to set aside my "needs" for the month -- and hopefully this will also help me discern between actual, valid needs and selfish, self-validated and rationalized non-needs. I tend to confuse the two.

~ no "reminders." Also valid things, but not seen as helpful or enticements to do what I want. (And usually the things I want are not the same as Dave's priorities. I need to shut up more so we can work together, I think.)

I'm sure I'll come up with more as I go along, but these are the most obvious things I need to work on.

I plan to write a new note every day as a way of keeping myself accountable. Plus, it'll keep me from forgetting. :) I'll share how I've succeeded and how I've failed each day.

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips"!!! (Psalm 141:3)

Oh yeah, I've also copied out a couple bible verses to put up around the house to remind and encourage me. Thank God that He's going to be helping me with this! ('Cause I'm really going to need it.)

I'm a little scared of failing, and I'm worried about how Dave will react, but I want to press on and change this area of my life. I think it'll make our marriage much better if I can just stop pushing all my needs and start realizing he's got some, too.

Here's my "theme verse":

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29).

Here's to a month of building up! :)