Good People

I hustled around the kitchen loading her bag for school.

I’d already brushed her hair, zipped up her uniform, and tucked her under a blanket with a cup of milk to keep her company while she watched Shrek. Her preferred way to spend the mornings.

Mine too.

The clock hand inched forward, and we had two minutes left before it was time to load the car.

I knelt down in front of the couch, unbuckling her shoes, and she stuck a foot out from the blanket. “You and Dad don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” Securing the left shoe, I repeated the same for the right.

“Yell at each other like Shrek and Fiona.” Pulling her sock tight, she slid the other foot it. “Y’all are good people.”

I glanced at the television for a quick reference. Shrek and Fiona were in the middle of a heated argument, and based on his behavior at their childrens’ birthday party, I could see why.

“Honey, Daddy and I aren’t good people. We’ve just chosen a different way to speak to one another because we respect each other.”

Had she been alive to witness our first few months of marriage, she might’ve assumed we wrote the script for Shrek and Fiona.

We had a lot of learning to do. So did our tongues. Words carelessly flew from our mouths, often colored in disrespectful tones. Sometimes the pitches were louder than others.

Of course, it was all so new. And we did a great job of brutally popping one another’s unrealistic expectations. We let selfishness have full reign, assuming it was only fair that the other one bend and give way. And then one day, it clicked.

This was not how we wanted to live the rest of our lives. Or another day, for that matter.

Cutting words. Silent treatment. Undermining efforts. Passive aggressive behavior.

We were a team. We were one. So why were we working against one another rather than working together?

The goal of our relationship changed.

It wasn’t about being good.

Rather, it was about being like God.

The One who is compassionate and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in love.

 Who forgives our trespasses. Who bends His ear to listen. Who does not withhold good but gives generously.

The One who sacrifices and serves. Who helps in time of need. Who never leaves nor forsakes. And who rejoices with truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

We have our days.

The Lord knows. We know. One day, our children will know.

We disagree. We disappoint. And we have our own set of issues and trials we’ve worked to overcome.

Not because we’re good. Far from it.

But because we’ve chosen to braid ourselves into a chord of three strands that is not easily broken.