I know I’m dating myself here, but this topic reminds me of the popular 70’s disco tune, “Rock the Boat.” Are any of you old enough to remember it? The balladeer wanted everyone to know that he didn’t want his “baby” rocking the boat, or to put it another way, changing the status quo of their relationship.

Ever felt that way?

In marriage, we can easily become consumed with protecting the status quo. If we have a stressed relationship to begin with, we worry that challenging the status quo will break it altogether. But there are many other reasons that we cling to status quo. See if you find your reasons in this list …

8 reasons we settle for status quo:

1. We fear conflict (my personal favorite!).
2. We like the familiar and fear the unknown.
3. We dislike the pain and awkwardness that change requires.
4. We feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the changes our relationship needs.
5. We fear others will reject us if we are true to our convictions.
6. We deceive ourselves into believing it’s working on some level.
7. We feel in control when things remain the same.
8. We feel that surrendering it all to God means less for us.

I’m sure there are more reasons that any of us could’ve listed, but they all seem to boil down to one word – management. When we resist positive change and embrace status quo, we are trying to manage our world. In other words …

We are trying to play god.

We are allowing our fears, our need for safety, comfort and predictability to override God’s urging to take BIG steps of faith in His ability.

My husband and I had something of an argument or maybe more like “butting of heads” recently. Ironically, we’ve been doing a 14-Day Rejoice Challenge that I will be sharing with all of you in the near future. Well, today’s challenge was to “confess.” Unfortunately, I didn’t think I did anything wrong during our “B.O.H” session! (Ha!) But I prayed that God would show me any offensive way in my actions (challenging the status quo). Needless to say, God didn’t hesitate to reveal my many sinful attitudes and actions.

In all honesty, it hurt to have to confess and apologize to my husband. I’ve never grown fond of the taste of humble pie—no matter how many times I must partake of it. But what kept echoing in my mind was … is my God big enough to walk with me through this or not?

The answer is a resounding, “Yes, He is!”

• Our God calms our fears when we don’t feel strong enough to face the fight.
• Our God empowers us with ALL that we need for each challenge.
• Our God rights the wrongs that we can’t make right on our own and in ways that we can’t see with our physical eyes.
• Our God can fill us with joy as we surrender to Him, and we’ll wonder why we waited so long to experience it!

Photo credit by DeSnousa (Flickr)