What I've learned to love about him, so far...
Jason and I have only been married 4 years, though we've known each other 14 years. When we got married, people "warned" us that the first year can be very hard - there's much to learn about each other and a lot you learn about yourself (some good and some bad). For us, the first year was a blast. We barely had any surprises (except for how much fun the romantic, physical side of marriage is!) and we found out we were expecting our first little blessing only 10 weeks after being married, so lets face it... the fun began right away.What I hadn't quite realized is that you don't usually learn that much about your spouse in the first year. I mean, you do learn a lot about each other and I very much believe that the first year can often set the tone for your entire married life, but I hadn't quite realized how much I'd continue learning to love about him, beyond that first year.
I imagine those of you reading this who have been married longer than 4 years are agreeing that we have even MORE to learn -- and I'm so thrilled about that!
I don't often gush about my husband to other people. Not sure why. I think its a fine thing to do, but I think for me personally, I have that underline fear that people are going to chalk us up to "that couple that thinks they're perfect" and so I don't gush as much as I think I should.
So today I was reading through Ephesians and happened upon chapter 5, which deals quite a bit with the husband and wife's roles. I felt the Holy Spirit very much leading me to get a pen and paper and jot down things that I have learned to love about my husband; my gift from the Lord. I think I felt His leading because God knows that lately in the hustle and bustle of life, I've been feeling like the maid, caretaker, cook, laundry person, etc... you know... naval gazing. I told you in a previous post that I'm good at that, sadly. I can't say my attitude lately has been Jason's fault at all. I go through these spurts and I hate them, but its my ugly sin nature that I'm dealing with here. Satan often tries to get me in that mindset of "this isn't the glamorous life I had planned out to have" and that's why my beautiful attitude towards Jase turns into that ugly person he probably tries to hide from. :-\
Writing the list was hard. Mostly because I told myself it had to be more than just the same simple answers that any marriage textbook would give. I had to dig deep, think about Jason and things I didn't necessarily know about him before we got married; graces that God has given him and grown in him since we've been married.
To my surprise (because when I started out I was having a bit of an attitude) this wasn't a hard task at all! I was pleasantly surprised with how much the ideas were flowing and also how quickly this moved me to remember life's not all about me.
I mainly just felt so encouraged in doing this and thought I'd pass the idea on to you. :)
And, because I think "spousal gushing" is a good and helpful thing, here goes...
- I love to see him with our kids. I love the fun and crazy Daddy that he is and I love that our kids say "Daddy's my best friend" all the time.
- I love that he is quick to say "I was wrong" and that in his opinion, humbling himself is a reflection of Christ and not something wimps do.
- I love that he crumples and softens up immediately when I repent of my sin to him. I love that he sees Christ in me, even when I'm doing such a poor job at reflecting His glory.
- I love that he loves my entire family. We're not always the easiest bunch to love. :)
- I can't get over how totally handsome and sexy he is to me. I love that he turns me on the way he does and sometimes at the moments when I least expect it.
- I love that he's spontaneous and wild and reminds me how much fun that can be.
- I love that he thinks about my needs and cares about my feelings, without me having to always remind him.
- I love to see him cry... because it doesn't happen very often and when it does, its priceless and never done in a self serving way.
- I love that even though some things seemed so scary and unknown to him, he places his trust in God and is outgoing and adventurous in his faith. I love that he takes risks and isn't afraid to hear the word "no" or "not right now".
- I love to see how the Lord continues to use each of our qualities, strengths and weaknesses and to mix them so perfectly together for His glory.
- I absolutely love that he makes me laugh even more now than the day we got married.
- I love that he's so affectionate, even in public places.
- I am so thankful that he's not afraid to confront me, rebuke me, and help me put my sin to death.
- I love that after 3 babies and not the same "honeymoon body" I once had - he thinks I'm more attractive today than I was back then.
- I love that our son has such an amazing example to see in his Daddy and that our girls will know what qualities to look for in their future men. :)
- I love hearing him pray. To hear him speak to the God we serve and love together... its amazing. I love the relationship he has with Christ. It inspires me.
- I love that he's not perfect, I love that he knows I'm not perfect...
- I absolutely love that he aspires to be a man after God's own heart!
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