I’d be a great wife if I wasn’t so tired. How about you? The truth is, it’s hard to be great when you’re groggy.

We read, we pray, we counsel, we try, but if we would just change this, we would be better wives. Marriage is hard enough when our days are filled with routines, but throw in a challenge or crisis, and it’s likely to sink us. Let’s face it. It takes energy to be loving.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) but when you’re tired, you’re more likely to be: impatient, unkind, rude, irritable, unbearable, and unenduring.

Are you a better wife when you’re well rested? If you’re too tired to remember when that was, then just remember this:  when it comes to having energy to be a great wife, LESS IS MORE.

How to find room for rest

• Less doing … so you have to prioritize (I’m cooking in my own kitchen here, friends!)
• Less tech … so you have to put away tv, Facebook, and Pinterest when you should be sleeping
• Less noise … so you have to choose to slow down and create space in your days

How to get more rest

• More pause. Any time, all the time. After a meal, before getting up, in the car, in the bathroom!  Pause.
• More sleep.  If we know sleep impacts so much of our physical, mental, and emotional health, there’s no substitute. How much sleep do you need to live well?
• More rest.  Rest is different than sleep. Rest is allowing your body and mind and spirit to enjoy quiet, peaceful time absent of hurry or demand. Rest.

When wives are groggy it shows in what they don’t want to do. 

1. They don’t want to cook.
2. They don’t want to play.
3. They don’t want to have sex.
4. They don’t want to listen.
5. They don’t want to love.

It’s hard to be great when you’re groggy.  Are you a tired wife?

Let’s stop making excuses and stop being so tired. It’s good to pray and read and counsel and try … and read Marriage Monday every week 😉 but maybe the best thing we could do for our marriages this week is to make progress in being women who rest.

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Let’s rest well today and tonight, friends. We will love better, and our husbands will thank us for it.

What signs show up in your home and relationship when you are too groggy? Would love to hear your thoughts.