Respecting a Respectful Husband

That is a chapter in the book I received at our last MOPS meeting of the year yesterday {boo hoo!} ...Moments Together for Intimacy, Devotions for Drawing Near to God & One Another. One of the first topics covered when I joined MOPS five years ago was about respecting your husband, and I've always remembered it and the importance of it. But following through on it and applying it have not been so memorable! I'm not sure why I find it so hard, but just ask Dan! I do think I've made more of an effort to tell him how much he is appreciated and how thankful we are for his hard work to support us...but I could be wrong!

Anyway, here it is again...Respecting a Respectful Husband...something I must still need to work on!

Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband. Ephesians 5:33

Sometimes I even wonder how do I respect my husband? I mean, I do the laundry, make dinner, clean the house and lots of other things to maintain our home and family...isn't that enough? I know...apparently not! The book mentions how one way to show respect for our husbands is to consider and understand the weight of his responsibilities as a servant-leader in the home.

Another way to communicate respect to your husband is to accept his schedule {is the author talking directly to me...because it sounds like it!} Dan has been on lots of business trips and has some late-night dinners and meetings to tend to...and I always think of how it's going to affect me! {guilty}

He's going away again in a couple of weeks, and also on another trip in a couple of months...but talking to him last night made me realize it's not easy on him either! A lot of husbands struggle in their jobs and don't want to bring that burden and stress home with them...but last night I got a good sense of what he truly deals with on a daily basis. Let's just say, I respect him all the more for working so hard so that I can stay home and clean the house and fold the laundry! I used to feel that when he went to work and the kids were babies...he was getting a break! And when he came home...it was his turn to take over my responsibilities! Let's see...Alex will be seven this summer and Emily is five...it's only taken me until a little while ago to realize that he surely has not felt the respect around here! {oops!} It's easy for us to look at our husbands and see what is wrong {guilty again} instead of right!

Respecting your husband means noticing him, showing you regard him, honor him, prefer him and esteem him. From a negative point of view, not showing respect means to be insulting, critical, nonsupportive or passive towards him and his needs.

Wow, that's not always easy...especially when I keep finding a trail of grass clippings through the house after he's mowed the lawn! But that's why I love that I can be reminded of how to show respect and to specifically pray about it, to ask God for a better understanding of Dan's needs so that I will be able to express my respect for him! {And be thankful that he loves to maintain the Manor grounds, and keep it looking nice!} Thanks, Dan! I love you and how hard you work for us! It does not go unnoticed!

And speaking of respect...Carey over at Life in the Carpool Lane has awarded me {and all her other bloggy friends!} this ever-so-prestigious award!

Thank you so much for recognizing me! But please go visit Carey and learn how you, too can be more green and help respect our Mother Earth! She has helped make me more aware of what I can do to reduce, reuse, and recycle!