Passive Aggressive Husband?

Is your husband passive aggressive?

According to Google:

Men aren’t the only ones capable of being passive aggressive. Women can be too. 

I received this question recently:

I have a question and was wondering if you had any advice. I’ve been doing really good at sticking to my boundaries. There’s one I’m still shaky on. I usually have to wake my husband up 10 times on Sunday for church. I don’t do that anymore. I give him one wake up call and the rest is up to him. Some days he doesn’t wake up, and that’s fine. I get to church on time and enjoy the afternoon with my granny. We need to leave the house by 1030 to get to church on time. Some days he does get up. He gets up about 1015 and says he’s going to church and he does go. The problem? He doesn’t get in the car ready to leave until 1050 and then we are 10-15 minutes late. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but to me it is. We have someone to meet there, and so she’s left by herself while we are late every week. And the reason we are late Is that he wakes up on time but plays games on his phone until like 5 minutes before we have to leave. I have said hey maybe I can go and you meet me there. He says no because that’s a waste of gas. I’ve told him nicely that it’s once a week and if he wants to go it would mean a lot to me and my grandma if he could just make an effort to be on time that one day each week or just not go. He says he does make an effort, blah blah blah. I could just say well I’m leaving at 1030. If you are ready, great. If not, I’m going alone and you can meet me. The problem is if I go, he won’t go. But if I’m willing to wait and be 10-15 minutes late he will be there. And I love for him to be at church with me. What should I do or what would you do in this situation?

I see a woman who deeply desires her husband to attend church with her – and she’s trying to control his behavior. Her heart isn’t wrong, but her actions aren’t netting the outcome she wants. I would even go so far as to say she’s “mothering” him. Adults don’t need other adults to wake them – he has a phone, it probably has an alarm on it. 

Here’s the problem as I see it, bearing in mind I only have her side of the story and I could be completely wrong: they’re both afraid.

He’s afraid to tell her he doesn’t want to go, or maybe he does want to go but is afraid of God’s and her expectations if he goes and hears something he needs to change. Maybe this man isn’t sold out for Jesus Christ, and maybe he’s not interested in growing his faith at the moment.

She’s afraid of letting him make his own decisions about attending. She’s afraid he won’t go. She wants him there, so she’s willing to make others wait just to get him to attend.

What I recommend: CONVERSATION & BRAVERY.

1 Peter 3:6 she does what is right and does not give way to fear.

Unfortunately, he may not feel safe telling her the truth. If she can create an environment over time where he can be honest with her about not going, then she can say something like, “I feel nervous that if I don’t wake you up, you won’t come to church. It’s important to me that you and I are on the same page spiritually. I need to know where you’re at.”

Then she can tell him, “Okay, I can respect that,” (no matter what he says). And then she can let him know this, “I feel like I’m mothering you by waking you up to go. I need you to get up on your own if you want to attend. I also need to be on time, so I will be leaving at 10:30am. I am not going to keep so-and-so waiting any longer.” She can even say, “I’m concerned it disrespects you to our kids for me to wake you up to go.”

Then she needs to let go of it.

And then do what she said she was going to do – which is let him be responsible for his actions and let God deal with that, and she needs to leave when she said she was going to – even if she’s afraid he won’t go at all.

Here’s why: his faith is not her responsibility.

It’s his.

We can’t be our husband’s Holy Spirit.

And we shouldn’t create an atmosphere where we’re dishing judgment instead of compassion. Judgment looks like, “You don’t care about spirituality, you don’t have any interest in growing, you’re passive-aggressive, you this, you that…” Instead, compassion reminds us of the truth of Genesis 1:27:

Unfortunately in marriage, and in too many other relationships, we don’t consistently behave like respectful adults. We assume positions that are either parental or childish instead of adult. This doesn’t model the right stuff for our kids – and we all know what they see, they repeat.

We think we need to “fix it” but in effect, we’re communicating, “I don’t think you can handle this.” Your husband (and often our kids) can solve their own problems – and it’s disrespectful to give unsolicited advice.

If you are invited into his situation, GREAT. If not, the most we should do is let him know we’re praying for him and validate his feelings about whatever he’s dealing with. YES. WHATEVER. Even if you don’t agree – validate his feelings.

But BOTTOM LINE FOR NOW: STOP giving unsolicited advice. 🙂 Even if you are right, it demotivates people and steals their enthusiasm – and more often than not, ownership of a problem and solution is more important than it being done “right” the first time anyway. 

You’ll see your marriage improve as a result. People feel the way they feel – and to say they are wrong feeling that way just keeps them feeling badly. Help your husband relieve stress by validating how he feels. We’ll talk more about that next time.

And for the record, it’s not just me saying this. The research is in. 🙂

So thank you for the grace and the well-wishes in the last several weeks – I’ve been out-of-pocket, but am back again. 🙂

FYI, this is the last week to sign up for our Strength & Dignity eCourse. It’s free and it’s for women who are struggling in their marriages.

What about YOU? Do you find it hard to not give advice? Are you a “fixer” type? Do you find it hard to validate someone else’s feelings when you wouldn’t feel the same way?

Love to you,

Nina

Here’s a few more posts you might find useful:

Want to Change Your Husband?

Why Your Husband Doesn’t Respect YOU

A WILD Story about the “N-Word” and Grace

Is Complaining Ruining Your Marriage?

How Being Defensive is Destroying Your Marriage

Six Ways to Overcome Your Husband’s Anger

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