“Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”
Ephesians 5:25
“Husbands,
love your wives, and be not bitter against
them.”
Colossians 3:19
“Likewise,
ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as
being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”
I Peter 3:7
One of our Greatest Blessings
I am convinced that one of the greatest blessings of the
Lord in my life has been the gift of my wonderful wife Kris. She has helped me in more ways than I can
ever describe. Being in the ministry, we
all are driven to do the work that the Lord has called us to do. Unfortunately, we can often get so caught up
in the work that we fail to take time to love our wives properly, to give honor
unto them, and can even find ourselves getting bitter against them. I am sure all of us would agree that we don’t
want this to happen. The purpose of this
little note is to remind us to take time to cherish the one the Lord has provided to be our help meet.
I am by no means an expert in this area and I often fail at
properly loving my wife. But with the
Lord’s help, I can continue to invest in my relationship with Kris and make our
marriage an even better picture of the love that Christ has for us. To that end, here are some of the things that
I have done to love and cherish her. At
the beginning of each year, I have a brain-storming session and develop a list
of ways that I can make Kris feel special throughout the year. I keep this list in my daily prayer journal
(so it is always in front of me) and I make a commitment to do all of these
“special” things for her at some point throughout the year. I have probably been more blessed by doing
these things than she has because it helps me to focus less on myself. I hope you find these ideas helpful – perhaps
you have others than you can add (and share with me)!
ü Buy her
flowers (or pick a nice bouquet if you can find them)
ü Make her
breakfast in bed
ü Write a
good, old-fashioned love letter and mail it to her
ü Plan and
make a picnic lunch. Go to a nice park
and enjoy each others company.
ü 
Buy her a
new dress (one that you pick out and buy yourself). Make sure you save the receipt!
ü Write her
a poem
ü Take a
long walk in the woods together
ü 
Go on a
bike ride together
ü Take her
out for coffee
ü Make
dinner for her (this may be a stretch but go “all-out.” Send her out shopping (perhaps a small gift
certificate for the mall), get candles, music, the good china, and cook dinner
yourself. Tell her to be home at the
appointed time and serve her as much as you can). Rent her favorite movie and enjoy an evening
of cuddling together on the couch.
ü Buy her a
new book
ü Give her a
honey-do list that she has to fill out and lovingly complete it for her.
ü Send her
email greeting cards throughout the year – they’re free!
ü Leave
little Post-it notes around the house and in odd places that tell her how much
you love her. Do this often. Buy her a little photo album so she can save
them and read them later. Be artistic on
the post it as well.
ü Buy her
chocolate or her favorite candy
ü Wash her
car for her
ü Listen for
her to say things that she needs or would like to have and try to get them for
her (examples: socks, shoe organizer for closet, music CD, etc. were some of
the ones I heard and acted on this year)
ü Commit to
having at least one date per month. One
of the things Kris likes best is when I plan the date, including arranging for
the babysitter, etc.)
ü Plan an overnight
trip to a bed & breakfast (this may be quite expensive…)
ü Put your
thinking cap on and add to this list yourself!
Satan would like nothing more than to destroy your marriage
and your ministry. Don’t get so busy
doing the good things that you forget about one of the greatest gifts that the
Lord has given to you!
Finally, don’t forget to pray daily for your wife. Only you know the areas that she struggles in
and make sure you take the time to lift her up in prayer every day!
May the
Lord richly bless your marriage and your ministry!
