If you are a spouse more committed to rescuing your parent, your faithfulness to your own marriage is compromised. Examples of this might include receiving “perfectly timed” communications from your mother or father that leave you ambivalent and anxious. It could be a text about a sibling struggling with his or her faith, a phone call that your dad’s health is not doing well, or an e-mail that finances are really stressful for the family. The unsaid expectation is that you need to step up to resolve this problem and offer care so the peace of the family can be restored.
