The Parable of The Holey Sock

I caught my wife darning one of my socks the other day. Apparently, her silly husband likes to walk around in his stocking feet and wear holes in his socks, thereby causing more work for his wife.

"If you'd only wear your slippers!" she tells me. She shakes her head and keeps right on darning the sock.

Here we have a typical example of a conflict of interests. On one hand, my wife doesn't like darning socks. It takes time out of her busy schedule to do something she really doesn't want to do in the first place. That can be frustrating. It can put a strain on a relationship, especially when her husband doesn't like wearing his slippers.

My wife also doesn't like spending money on socks when she COULD be spending it on her grandkids. Doubly frustrating.

On my side of the issue, I don't always want to wear my slippers. I like walking around in my stocking feet, sliding around on the kitchen floor like Tom Cruise (not really). I guess I could go without wearing socks but then my feet would get cold. What's a man to do? Well, that's easy.

The verse I find myself going back to time and time again is Ephesians 5:25

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." - Ephesians 5:25

I reached into my sock drawer this morning and grabbed a pair of socks. I was about to put them on when I noticed that one of the socks had been repaired. I held it in my hand and looked and the stitching my wife had done. There were a lot of stitches in that sock!

As I pulled the sock on I reflected on that Ephesians 5 verse. Previously, in Ephesians 5, I also reflected on the wife in Paul's example of a biblical marriage.

"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord." - Ephesians 5:22

My wife had already submitted to my wishes. She had fixed my socks, she had thereby saved money for her grandkids. What had I done in my role as a husband? I'll tell you what I did. I smiled and I put my slippers on over my socks.

There's no one home as I write this. I could have walked around in my stocking feet. My wife would never have known, until she saw the next holey sock. But I would have known. I made the small sacrifice of wearing my slippers around the house to honor my wife and to honor God.

What bigger relationship issues could we solve by sacrificing ourselves for our spouses? What can we do to make someone's life easier? Shouldn't we make that sacrifice?

You and I are socks. Our sin is the hole. God chose to fix us through our belief in His Son, Jesus. Aren't you glad He chose to mend us and make us whole rather than just throwing us in the garbage?

How To Repair A Hole In A Sock With Darning