Discussion post - Taking each other for granted.

This is a very interesting topic - let's try not to get to heated in our discussions. In addition, as sort of a disclaimer, the wife and I are very comfortable with each others roles...I'm not saying that we both don't need a little correction, but comfortable where God has us and what he is calling each of us to do in our household. There are many that will view what's written here and perhaps what gets put in the comments section as sexist statements. If that's the case, stop reading right now and go get right with God (and I am not just talking to the women). Lose that victim attitude!

I am sure many people have different takes, arrangements, understandings, agreements in their marriage relationships. Some men do dishes, some women mow the lawn, etc... I think in those cases (and most), they have chosen to do something that they enjoy. The word enjoy may be a loose interpretation of what I actually mean. Let's say it this way, they would choose one thing over another because given the 2, they would not hate it as bad as the other. Make sense? For example, typically, I edge and trim the lawn as well as mow (sometimes one of my daughters does mow). I do that for several reasons: 1. It needs to be done. 2. It's laborious and somewhat dangerous and I don't want anyone to get hurt. 3. I don't do dishes. etc. The strange thing is, it is accepted at my home that the weed eater and lawnmower belong to me without ever having to say a word. Just to head off some resentment at my household, my wife has mowed the lawn in the past! To that end, I have also washed dishes! :-) But, back to my point, that duty became mine without agreement, arrangements, etc. It was just mine. Laundry in our house has been a very MAJOR task. We have 11 people getting towels dirty, shirts dirty, pants dirty, you have never seen a bag of mismatched socks as large as ours, etc. Needless to say, the pile is tremendous! EVERYDAY!! We recently bought a new washer and dryer and it's capacity is considerably larger than our last ones. I am sure it helps, but every time I walk by the laundry room, it's FULL of dirty clothes. Poor wife and kids that have that as one of their chores. My point here is that my wife does not expect me to do laundry. I don't expect to have to do it either. I would if I had to, but I don't think there has ever been a crisis in our family that maimed one of the laundry doers to render them unable to do laundry where I had to step in... I just expect that I open the drawers and viola...clean socks (matched nicely at that!)

So, in those scenarios, is anyone taken for granted? Is being taken for granted evil in any of those scenarios?

How about this scenario... The man comes home from work, dinner is on the table. After they eat, he goes to the (fill in the blank with hobby or past time)... meanwhile, the baby is crying, dishes need to be done, laundry is quickly accumulating, the yard is an embarrassment, the house is dilapidated, etc. You know, the scene where the wife is in shambles and the husband is veggin' out on the couch? This scene makes it painfully obvious that the wife is being a sluggard and needs to get with it, right! ;-)

Now that I have you in the right mindset (I think)..let's throw out some discussion points:
1. Why do married couples hate being taken advantage of? Do you feel any of this sentiment would be misguided?

2. Whom do you serve?

3. Where is your treasure?

4. What is your treasure?

5. What are the biblical roles and models in scripture that you base the foundation of your knowledge? Are you in proper context when you are reading them? Is your heart aligned when going over them?

6. What are your expectations of your spouse? Does he/she know them? Are they truly reasonable?

Any additional thoughts?
Here we go...