Read Time: 1 min, 17 secs

Have you ever struggled to find something?

You looked under this and behind that only to come away disappointed because you couldn't find what you're searching for.

Feeling helpless, you called someone to help you look, and they found it right away.

The next phrase out of your mouth may have been, "Wow. Had it been a snake it would have bitten me. I can't believe overlooked it."

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To overlook something is to fail to notice; to ignore or disregard.

There's a challenging verse in the book of Proverbs that will bless your marriage if you start practicing it:

People with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

Let's look at two things here:

1) If you have good sense, you'll be slow to anger. We tend to have "good sense" with others, and "bad sense" with our family members - especially our spouse.

This verse isn't saying you can't get angry, or even that you shouldn't get angry. It's simply saying that you shouldn't go from calm to anger in one motion. Slow down the anger progression. You'll make less messes.

2) It's to your glory (your advantage or credit) to overlook an offense, i.e., to fail to notice the offense ... to ignore or disregard it ... to act like it's not even there.

There's no rule on when to overlook an offense vs. when to address it.

However, I do know that if you address every offense and make everything a big deal, then your mate and others will see you as being touchy, irritable, grouchy, hard-to-please, critical, mean, unmerciful, jerkish ... do I need to keep going?!?!

Here's the bottomline: Not everything needs to be addressed.

That said, don't be a doormat and let important stuff slide. At the same time, don't make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Kevin

ps - I've been working on an exciting addition to Marriage Works!, and look forward to revealing it later this week! You'll get an opportunity to be a part of it as a founding member. Stay tuned!