In the midst of my emotional, hormonal, 3rd trimester craziness, I am once again in awe of the endless love my husband gives me. He truly is the face of Christ. Yet, I continue to disappoint myself in the selfish ways I neglect to love him in return. I wish I could rewind my less than loving acts, and be the joyful wife he deserves. Well, I can't change the past, but I can learn from it, and resolve to do better. I can stop making excuses for my negativity toward him, and determine to put his needs before mine. Speaking from experience, if I don't have this resolution in the forefront of my mind (namely the 5pm hour ;), the end of the day exhaustion hits & he becomes my easy target. Fortunately, these treasured morning moments of reflection allow me to see that is not the wife I want to be for my beloved man. I am the lucky one to be married to him, and I want to show him the love and respect he deserves.
I know the attacks on marriage are real. I know the good things that come when I choose to put his feelings before mine, to smile when I'm tired, and kiss him when I'm not feeling pretty. I know all about the power of the mind and positive thinking…but, Lord, my will is weak, and most of the time I really don't feel like playing mind games. But no, away with the slothful temptations! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. Repeat! If I want to be part of the marriage revolution that will change the world, I need to commit to those small, daily, signs of love only I can give to him. Like Saint Mother Teresa reminds us, "If you want to change the world, go home & love your family." Well, my family starts with my husband, and yes, I want to be a part of that change!
So today, I'm saving this love note on my phone that I can choose to read at those 5pm moments to speak the truth to my heart. I can choose to uplift my husband, and in turn uplift myself, and our marriage. I can choose to re-live my marriage vows. Wives, make no mistake, the world is fighting against us, ready to attack us at every moment. I am right there with you, and I feel the struggle. Whatever your moment of weakness is, I thought by sharing this, you might be inspired to personalize this little exercise to help you in these daily battles too!
Who's with me ladies? Let's step our game and show this world the power our marriages have. Let's surprise our husbands with extra love this week just because they married us, despite our negative feelings, emotional mood swings, or horrible day. I am not the perfect wife, but praise God, I am only human. And all I can do is humbly accept that humanity and put forth my best effort possible. Sorry, devils, you are out of luck today…I'm shouting Jesus' name out loud & using all the hashtags...dear loving husbands, here we come!