Several years ago an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration was lecturing a group of kids about gun safety. As he was saying that he was the only one there professional enough to handle a Glock, he shot himself in the foot (or the thigh according to which account you read).

Michael Quinion reports a sobering event recorded in the Appleton Crescent newspaper of August 1857, “Mr. Darriel S. Leo, Consul to Basle, accidentally shot himself through the foot, four or five days ago, in a pistol gallery at Washington, and died on Sunday of lockjaw.” (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sho4.htm)

People have been shooting themselves in the foot for a long time. But the phrase has taken on another sense in more recent years. According to the Free Dictionary the phrase means, “to do or say something that causes problems for you.” (The Free Dictionary)

Last week I talked about ways to guarantee a divorce. But, those five aren’t the only ways to cause your marriage to flop. Here are three more ways to shoot your marriage in the foot:

1.    Use sex as a tool to manipulate your partner.

Intimacy in marriage isn’t an exchange for getting our way. 

Yes, there are times when we really do have a headache, but if your head hurts thirty days in a month, you better get that checked out. It could be mortal—mortal to your marriage too. Continue reading →