I really really really love my husband, BUT...
Marriage ain't easy.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about relationships of all kinds lately. I'm truly blessed with a good man for a husband, parents and siblings who love me, amazing girlfriends who would do anything for me, and step-daughters who I adore.
I am blessed with relationships.
But they are hard!
Especially marriage!
This week, I want to focus on praying, not only for my own marriage, but for marriage as an institution. Of course, I'll focus on the wife's perspective because...well, because I am one!
***Let me remind you that I am no marriage expert/counselor/Biblical Scholar. I'm just a plain old housewife with a desire to make my marriage the best it can be and I'm inviting you to come along!***
I think we live in a very interesting time in society. While I appreciate a lot about the feminist movement (mostly that women were created with as much value as men), there are a lot of things about it that have damaged relationships between men and women.
While we ARE created equal, we are NOT created the same. Men and women are just different! It is a fact and it gives the world balance. I'm not saying that every man or every woman can be put in the same box either...which adds even more complication! I am saying that there are things that are typically "male" and typically "female" and putting those things together can be both beautiful and disastrous.
So...onto my focus for today!
Think about the days when you first met each other. Maybe it was love at first sight. Maybe a friendship (like our relationship). Maybe you couldn't stand the sight of him! No matter the start, we all had those first few months, maybe even years, of romantic "perfection" (a.k.a. infatuation). Think about when you fell in love. Look at pictures, listen to music, visit a place - do whatever it takes to remember those days. Try to revive some of those giddy feelings. Remember the butterflies in your stomach or the way you couldn't fall asleep without thinking about him.
Now try to hold onto those memories and those feelings all day today. Try to have that same giddy attitude when you see your husband today. No matter what his mood is!
Father, I love you. I know you love my husband more than I ever could. Please pour your love for him through me today. Let me be an instrument of your amazing mercy and grace and adoring love to him. Help me remember the way I so easily adored him in the beginning. Protect us from being jaded by the mess of life. Protect us from distractions from each other. Protect us from distractions of being one in You. Help me make my husband feel the way I did when we first met. Please give us that spark of romance and excitement. Let it return at the right time in the future as well. Thank you for creating marriage and giving us a partner through this life. You are the author of it all. Your will be done in our marriage and in all marriages.
AMEN
