Greetings, bloglings. I recently celebrated my one year wedding anniversary. So, I decided I wanted to share some of the vast wisdom I’ve acquired in 365 days of marriage. Surely when you read this blog it will immediately improve your marriage, even if you’re not married!
Now, in all seriousness, I am not actually claiming to be vastly wise, nor am I claiming to be a marriage expert. I will honestly say I have failed to do things I should have done and hope there are things I will still do or things I will become better at doing.
Alright, enough of my dawdling. From even before we exchanged our vows, I have tried to take seriously the part of scripture that says “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25) I’ve tried to think about what it means to give myself up for my wife. That could very well play out in the practical giving of my life to save hers, which I would readily do, but I wanted to apply this verse to everyday life. It could mean compromising one of my desires to please her. It could mean thinking of my wife first and my self last. It could mean I surprise her by cooking dinner or cleaning something etcetera etcetera.
Here’s the lightbulb-over-the-head of this post: I realized early and have recently reminded myself that the most real and everyday way giving myself up for my wife is to intentional do things for her that I don’t feel like doing. When I’ve had a long day and I’m tired and achy and just want to veg out, the last thing I want to do for my wife is (fill in the blank) so that is the very thing I do. Be it laundry, dishes, walking the dog, taking out the trash, running to the store– if your first thought is “Heck no, I don’t want to do that,” then you should probably go ahead and suck it up and give yourself up for your wife. It will show her you love her and certainly bless her heart.
This might not be everyone’s conclusion, so I want to hear from you! What do you think giving yourself up for your wife means?