Last Stand

This commercial aired Sunday night during the 2010 Superbowl...I love the Charger, though it has some pretty significant blind spots...I chuckled at some of the things that were conceded to like eating fruit, cleaning the sink after shaving, and watching vampire movies...mostly because those topics have occurred in conversations with my wife. This portrayal of masculinity is stereotypical of sitcom media--man is begrudgingly "emasculated" and must make a "last stand" over some scope of territory. I think this is crap--that men have to make a stake on "his stuff". It is expected though, not just through media, but even in church, that it is "healthy" for a husband and a wife to have certain things, activities, friends, expectations, dreams, lapses, stories, etc. each other shouldn't, can't, won't even consider touching. Again, this is crap. As followers of Jesus, He bids us die...die to our narcissistic tenancies, urges, expectations, and demands...this is especially important in marriage. At the example of a great pastor, I want to gladly concede all day to day decisions first to the preference of my wife, BECAUSE one day there will come a decision to go a particular direction that will drastically alter our life and I don't want any of my stupid "last stands" to stand in the way of her trusting my call. MOREOVER, I want to be so obsessed with Jesus that my affections aren't wrapped up in my preferences and comforts that I miss the opportunity to allow the Gospel to wrap and infiltrate my marriage. This perspective is new to me, but it is good. I write all this in anticipation and hopefully execution on my part. God likes paradoxes, right? I'm confident that we can live dead to ourselves and be more fulfilled than we could have ever done with our "last stands." I've said it, now it's time to live it.