AND THIS IS WHY I GOT MARRIED...

He listens to me rant and rave about the unfair complexities of the world and he agrees with most of it.  I scream "Not fair!" and he listens to me.  That is why I got married.

Not because I now have someone that will agree with me when I am offended, but to have someone challenge me to grow beyond it.

"Be the one that takes away pain from people, not the one that imposes it on them."

I stop short, wonder what he means, and then when he explains, I think that maybe God has sent me someone that sees my heart and doesn't misconstrue my passion for obsessive compulsion.  He sees me as "Care Bear", the name that he has given me - the husband renaming his wife with something more than a last name change.  It made me smile the first time he called me that, when I unveiled my big ol' heart that I want so desperately to hide sometimes because being this passionate about anything can be embarrassing.

"Be the one that takes pain from people, not the one that imposes it on them."

I am not perfect.  He sees that and reminds me that it is okay to not be.  He reminds me that I do not have to live up to other people's standards of living.  The only Person I have to please is God, so it's fine if I need a Savior sometimes.  Everyday.  All the time.  It's okay if I have enemies so long as Jesus is my Friend.  Life wouldn't be worth living if I didn't have someone that used to love me, treat me like Judas treated Jesus.  I'm not Jesus but betrayal is a painful part of being human.

How will I respond? my husband basically asked when he sent me this statement via text today.  Will I be the same passionate person that has the Care Bear heart or will I retaliate with anger or pain or rejection of other people.  He knows that even though I want to put the Care Bear on the shelf, I can't.  Not when my heart aches at the pains of the world at the end of the day.

This is why God sent me him.

Because he, though he proclaims that he is not sensitive, is teaching me that being sensitive is the only way I can survive all that I see and experience on a daily basis.  And my little world is better the more I operate in my lane, the more I shine my Care Bear stare on the world around me.

"Be the one that takes pain from people, not the one that imposes it on them."

Words to live by.   And I thank God for him for reminding me of who I am.

                                                                        "Care Bear Stare!"