Letting molehills be molehills and mountains be mountains is part of building true intimacy in marriage.

Your spouse leaves the dishes in the sink after promising to clean them up, and there is nothing clean to eat on when dinnertime rolls around. Your spouse is supposed to pick up the dry cleaning and doesn't, leaving you without an article of clothing you needed for an important engagement.

Do these kinds of conflicts sound familiar? Small things, really. They don't rank with losing a job, a serious illness, or the death of a loved one. Yet they can seem huge, particularly when you are in a bad mood or have had a rough day.

We often "make mountains out of molehills" in marriage. But marriage requires seeing events in their proper size. Letting molehills be molehills and mountains be mountains is part of building true intimacy in marriage.

Scripture's reminder that "love will cover a multitude of sins" ( I Peter 4:8) helps us keep things in perspective in this area. The overwhelming and boundless love with which God loves us covers the multitude of our shortcomings. So we should ask ourselves, What if God were as quick to constantly point out every act of disobedience or every un-Christlike attitude in my life? We'd never get a break, would we?

The Holy Spirit, because of His loving grace, brings attention first to the "mountains" of needed sanctification in my life, leaving the "molehills" to be looked after as needed. His love is like that! Since He has my best interests in mind, the patience of His agape love brings gentle and gracious covering to the molehills in my life.

Freely I receive such love. Freely I can give it!

What small imperfections or flaws in your spouse do you need to see as molehills?

God, through Your love help me to let molehills be molehills in my marriage.