The Top Ten Dishonoring Acts in a Home, by Gary Smalley
From Gary Smalley’s book, Love is a Decision
• Ignoring or degrading another person’s opinions, advice, or beliefs (especially criticizing another person’s faith)
• Burying oneself in the television or newspaper when another person is trying to communicate with us
• Creating jokes about another person’s weak areas or shortcomings (Sarcasm or cutting jokes act like powerful emotional word pictures and do lasting harm in a relationship.)10
• Making regular verbal attacks on loved ones: criticizing harshly, being judgmental, delivering uncaring lectures
• Treating in-laws or other relatives as unimportant in one’s planning and communication
• Ignoring or simply not expressing appreciation for kind deeds done for us
• Distasteful habits that are practiced in front of the family —even after we are asked to stop
• Overcommitting ourselves to other projects or people so that everything outside the home seems more important than those inside the home
• Power struggles that leave one person feeling that he or she is a child or is being harshly dominated
• An unwillingness to admit that we are wrong or ask forgiveness
I don’t want my wife or children to feel any less loved than God would have them be in my home, and that means that honor must become an everyday activity in my life—like shaving or taking time out for meals. How about you? Are you ready to turn loose the “Ah-h-h-h-h-h” Principle in your home? – Gary Smalley
