Two-by-fours

An excerpt from This Momentary Marriage (Piper, John. This Momentary Marriage: a Parable of Permanence. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009. Print.):

Indeed, the distance between what Christ expects of us and what we achieve is infinitely greater than the distance between what we expect of our spouse and what he or she achieves. Christ always forgives more and endures more than we do. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Bear with as he bears with you. This holds true whether you are married to a believer or an unbeliever. Let the measure of God’s grace to you in the cross of Christ be the measure of your grace to your spouse ... Marriage is meant to be a unique matrix for this display of God’s grace. This is what marriage is for ultimately—the display of Christ’s covenant-keeping grace. (46-7, italics Piper's, bold emphasis mine)

Who wields the prosaic two-by-four like John Piper? Thump! That was my forehead that received the communicative clubbing. I know that my wife meets my expectations far more regularly than I meet Christ's. And I hope, having read and wrote about this, I'll remember this truth more often.

I wonder if the two-by-four ricocheted off of the beam in my eye.