Marriage Monday: A Call to Men

Since Savannah has started this new series on marriage, she asked me to add some guest posts for her to convey a male perspective on marriage, in addition to her own. Hopefully, for any men out there, I can shed some light on the things that God has taught me and continues to teach me in this lifelong journey. I want to start with something from the Creator of marriage and go from there. In Ephesians 5 we see some great instruction for husbands and wives, but specifically in verses 25&26. It states, “For Husbands, this means love your wives as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.”

What a simple concept that I think has been lost slowly over time in this country. Jesus clearly models for us as men, the type of husband you should be by simply by loving you enough that He happily laid down His life to atone for your imperfection. In our own lives, we should be happy to lay down our lives in a spiritual sense for our spouses.

Men, are you willing to be a better spiritual leader in your home? Do you realize that you are involved in a war that has been raging since the fall of your ancestor, Adam? As the head of your household, you are the first line of defense to the enemy’s attacks, and in Christ, you have been given all the tools to defend your home. Although your wife is your equal, it is your responsibility to protect her, not only in this physical realm, but even more so in the realm the really matters.

Love your wife enough to be a better man, but love her even more to be willing to build a strong and unbreakable bond in your marriage with Christ. Solomon lays out clearly for us in Ecclesiastes that the things we do in this life are like chasing the wind. So more than a nice car, a beautiful wedding ring, fashionable clothes and the extravagance that the world tells us we need to provide, the most important issue that you need to address in this life is the spiritual leadership that your wife needs to help further her own relationship with God. If you lead in Christ, Christ will then cause your wife to follow in respect and submission to you. I pray for this in my own life first, and hope that this will challenge you to love your wife enough to lead from the example of our savior.

Jason

 

Intro to Marriage Mondays

So, with this new year and new season, I thought I’d try a little something different. Kind of going along with my past Worthy Wednesday posts, my idea was to write about only marriage on Mondays. I want to touch on that topic because our marriage is ever changing, ever beautiful and often times very tough. I want to talk about things we want to work on, things we do to strengthen our marriage, and advice we will try in the future. Husband is pretty excited about this as he will often guest post on Mondays to get insight from both perspectives. We will be very open, but this being our marriage, we will not talk about everything in our relationship. It is sacred between us and God.

Keep in mind, we are not marriage experts – we simply want to strengthen ours and possibly give someone a new understanding as to how marriage really operates. Most of the time.

Aside from my relationship with my Heavenly Father, my relationship with my husband is the second most important thing in my life.

So, I hope you will enjoy, and learn along with us.

The first thing I want to talk about that I have started for the year 2013 is a little book that I received for my bridal shower from Chris & Lynne but I never touched. It’s called “365 Reasons Why I Love You”. It’s made of all different papers, and each day you write a reason why you love your spouse. At first we decided we were going to do it together, but after the first day that he didn’t do it, I wasn’t going to pressure him {and I wanted to see if he would do it on his own}. After he didn’t, I was a little sad, but I had to realize he is a man, and things often slip their minds. Plus, he has a lot going on and I didn’t want to make this thing we were working on for our marriage stressful – it should be fun, right?

Anyways, I won’t show you a picture of mine because my naughty Molly chewed the cover. I couldn’t find the original company who made our book, but I found lots of DIY ways to make one.

Here’s a good tutorial.

At the end of the year, I will have a lovely gift for my husband that he will be able to look back on time and time again. It also forces me {especially when he makes me mad} to remember why I married him and why he’s so special.

Enjoy 🙂

New Years Goals

I know, I know. It’s late, but it’s still January so it counts.

I have never before made a New Years resolution, and to be honest, even the beginning of this year I wasn’t feeling so inclined to do so until a few days after.

I have so much hope for 2013. I have said multiple times that when that ball dropped, I felt an instant relief. At this time in my life, I feel like Spring. Spring has sprung in so many different areas, and not just in my life, but in my family and friend’s lives, also.

So, with that being said, I didn’t make a huge, unattainable goal for myself to accomplish this year. Instead, I made a lot of little ones that are easily achieved and that make for a better quality of life. Since I feel so renewed, I figured, why not continue this renewal throughout this amazing year?

According to thesaurus.com, resolution and perseverance mean the same thing. To persevere means to endure. I don’t want to endure throughout this year. I want to enjoy it.

Now, goal on the other hand means the same thing as destination and design. I have a destination in mind, and I hope to make the design along the journey of this year a beautiful one.

Here is a list of my New Years goals:

1. Be in the Word daily.

2. Don’t obsess over food.

3. Stomp on negative thoughts – especially about your Husband.

4. Save money.

5. Drink less.

6. Have patience.

7. Be active on a regular basis, and don’t freak if you miss a day.

8. Be kinder – especially to your husband.

9. Go on more adventures.

10. Fall asleep in your bed instead of on the couch.

11. Go to bed earlier.

12. Wake up earlier.

13. Write something everyday. Even just a sentence. A word.

14. Be more passionate.

15. Finish the things you start.

16. Stress less.

I hope your year is full of amazing things, dreams become realities, and happiness fills your heart.

Enjoy!