I heard about a man who went to a Promise Keepers conference, and the Lord totally transformed him while he was there. Before, one of his most significant shortcomings was that he never showed his love with action. On the way home from the conference, he decided to immediately begin showing his love for his wife with action. He stopped and purchased flowers, candy, and a card. In fact, he actually read several cards to find the right one. He even picked out her favorite candy. Having decided to surprise his wife with all these gifts and with a sincere profession of love, he parked a block away from home, so he could approach in silence and surprise her.
After he crept silently to the door and rang the bell, she answered. Wearing a huge smile, he handed his wife the flowers, the candy, the card, and he said in a sincere voice, “Honey – I love you!”
Instead of giving him a warm embrace, she turned away in a crumple of tears. He just didn’t understand why she was reacting this way. He could not understand it – for once, he was finally showing her, with actions, that he loved her.
Still in tears, she finally blurted out, “Honey, you just don’t understand. When I took the kids to school, the car died. I had it towed away, and I had to bum a ride. When I got home, I was vacuuming the house when the dog, full of mud on his feet, ran all through the house. I was washing clothes and the washing machine overflowed. To top it off, I tried cooking a nice dinner to surprise you, but I got distracted on the phone, and the dinner got burned. When the smoke went through the house, the smoke alarm went off, and I couldn’t turn it off. This has been a terrible day. And now, to make matters worse, you come home drunk!”
Of all the gifts God has given to us, outside of salvation, our spouse is by far the greatest. When we stood together before a minister, we promised to love, honor, and cherish each other. But the truth is, for many, that if they came home today doing what they promised to do, their spouse would think they were drunk. Shame on us! Many times we want the other one to change, but maybe, we need to be doing more on our side.
What if we started trying to bring happiness to our spouse? What if we would go out of our way to do something special for them every single day? Maybe a card or some candy—for no reason at all. Maybe a chore around the house or a neck rub. Not wanting something in return, just wanting to do something nice for them. I bet if you are having issues, this would help with those issues. I once read that, after Zig Ziglar passed away, his wife, Jean, had to learn how to open a car door. That was said in jest because when he was with “Red,” (as he called his wife) he would always open her door. What are some things you can do to show your love for your spouse? Let’s not talk about them; let’s do them.
Come on, guys, let’s fall in love anew!
If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. Deuteronomy 24:5 NIV
He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6 NRSV
Mindful of His Ways 