I thought about this all day on Valentine’s Day this year. Started to write about it even … but we were elbows deep in germs right about then and I couldn’t muster the energy to finish it.
(And by the way, I L.O.V.E. starting traditions. It provides consistency in a life defined by the absence of it …. So, vilify me, if you will, but I like Valentine’s Day. And Valentine cupcakes. Have you noticed it’s a great day to be crafty? Pinterest was blowing up!)
Beside the point.
What strikes me about Valentine’s Day, and really every day I share a life with Husband, is what it means to have the love of a good man.
It’s safety. Comfort. Gravitational pull.
Today, we had a yard sale. (Editor’s note: Ughhh. I hate yard sales.) At the end of the sale we decided to donate some of our momma friendly items to a local organization, Alliance Against Family Violence. After dropping them off at the business office, and answering lots of questions from the friendly and inquisitive office help, I drove away with tears forming …. a glimpse, a thought, a remembering – there are spouses and children who live with those who claim to love while they destroy. Mommas flee with the clothes on their back, babies in hand. And I’m annoyed that I couldn’t sell simple household goods they are desperate for.
I am safe. Husband is my safe place. A lighthouse in the surf ….. steady. Shelter from the storm. Loves me. No matter what. Bad hair. Bedhead. Emotional. Grieving. Irrational all the time sometimes. Sees beauty always. I don’t have the words to explain how it feels to know all the way deep down to my un-manicured toes that Husband believes I am the most beautiful woman in the world. It blurs the edges around those crows feet rapidly forming.
Let me be clear – I have learned the hard way that Jesus is all I need. But to be loved by the Husband, to be cherished, together or apart, provides me with a foundation as I go about my daily life that has been woven into the fabric of my being over the past seven years.
I could say so much more. Write some bad poetry (oh wait … did that already … ) but I will leave you with this.
Much to-do is made about the infamous submission passage in Ephesians … I’ll leave that debate for another day.
My very most favorite thing about that section of Scripture is what comes after ….
“Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25 ESV).
As Christ loved the church. My dear Husband is called to love me with a selfless, sacrificial, Christ-like love. Every day he does. Or tries too … it’s a tall order with the level of crazy that exists around here.
Grace does the rest, meets us in the middle …. softens harsh words …. eases flared tempers …. soothes raw souls …. and I am eternally grateful, ever and always, to have the love of a good man, who puts Christ over me, and me over him.
So. Undeserving.
~M.
Heehee. I put this in Husband’s lunch on Valentine’s Day …. (don’t worry it’s just Diet Coke ….) and told him he would get bonus points for drinking it in front of his classmates. To his credit, he did so with a straight face.
This was so beautiful… There really is nothing that quite compares with the roles our husbands play in our lives. I loved this, and I love your blog. Subscribing. 🙂
Thank you …. do you mind me asking …. how did you find me? I just spent the last twenty minutes cruising your blog. I too worked in a group home … and fell in love. Didn’t get to take them with me, but I have an inkling of how you started ….
Thanks Molly. I know God has blessed me with a godly husband who loves me but it’s always good to be reminded how good we have it.