This comic strip says so much.  I think it fits for families as well.  There is a reason families are not committees.

I stole the statement that “parents are to be Benevolent Dictators” a long time ago. Parents are in charge of the family, as they follow the leadership of God.

Parents tend to struggle with the seemingly oxymoronical terms, “Benevolent”, and, “Dictator.”  Their common usage today, does seem to be contradictory. So parents often focus on just one of the words.  Benevolent, to the point of permissiveness. Too much understanding and not enough structure.  Or, as dictators,they have the iron fist without any love or compassion.  The third and possibly most dangerous pattern involves vacillation between the two terms creating a chaotic family.  These terms only work when the person(s) in charge, the dictator(s), are putting the needs of the ones being led, ahead of their own needs.  Thus benevolence.

Amazing how that sounds like the leadership model advocated by Christ.

The article titled Praying for spouse benefits marriage has some wonderful points.  I would summarize one of its points by saying its hard to pray for someone and maintain a negative, resentful attitude towards them.  One of the unintended consequences (they are not all bad) of prayer is the heart change made in the one doing the praying.  Of course the one without intention in this situation would be the person praying not God.  It is hard to come before the King of Kings in anything but an attitude of humility.  That humility is always a good thing, whether in aproaching God or dealing with our spouse.

I love Disney and their animation.  I specifically like Pixar and the work they do.  In fact I believe that Pixar has carried the ball for Disney with regards to keeping up the Disney animation tradition.  One of the most important figures in Pixar is John Lasseter.  In the clip I reference below he talks about animating inanimate objects.  How, he sees these objects finding their joy in fulfilling their designed purpose.  My immediate thought was that there is a huge spiritual metaphor for us as Christians.  Do we as Christians not find our greatest joy when we fulfill the purpose for which God has designed us?

I can’t say that I see this being the solution for all situations or that I agree with all the concept of this article.  However, the concept of “ducking the sucker punch” is really useful.  The insight into what was really going on is also impressive.  Overall, the idea of just reacting in an unexpected way is very helpful.