Bragging on My Man

This post is specifically for my female readers, but gentlemen, if any of you happen to be reading, do give us feedback!

Ladies, do you know that men crave respect above all things, even love or physical affection?  They need everything, but respect is at the top of the list.  I didn't understand this till Hubby explained it to me while we were dating.  Like a typical woman, I found it hard to believe at first, but that's how men's brains work.

It hit me then, and still does from time to time, how much power we women have over the men in our lives.  We can build them up or tear them down by what we say to them and by what we say about them.  Building up my husband happens when I tell him encouraging things to his face, and when I tell other people good things about him.  I know it's easy for women to fall into the trap of "husband-bashing" when they're in a group of friends.  Sometimes this can masquerade as a group counseling session, or even prayer requests ("My husband is acting such-and-such a way, I can't stand it, can you pray for us?").  My fellow women and sisters in Christ, I encourage you to build up the men in your life (husbands, boyfriends, friends, fathers, brothers) to their face and to the other women you know.  In turn, they will show you love and kindness because they know you respect them.

My husband is AWESOME!  On Saturday, we needed to go grocery shopping.  He went with me, and pushed the cart for me, and carried most of the groceries from the car up the (very steep) stairs to our apartment.  I had to go do a little laundry, so he put ALL the groceries away, did nearly all the dishes that I'd left in the sink (and there were a lot), AND got started making homemade pizza for lunch.  When I got home I was tired, so he put the clean, dry sheets on the bed so I could take a nap while he finished making lunch!

That night, he had a date night planned for at home: he had rented a romance movie on Netflix, he'd gotten a bottle of sparkling grape juice while we were grocery shopping, and he turned down the lights and we ate smoked salmon on crackers with cream cheese (and leftover pizza and pasta salad).

We got another wedding gift of cash from a family member on Saturday with a note that it was to be used for a date night.  So yesterday Hubby made reservations at a really nice restaurant in York, and after going to church with my in-law's and spending the day at their house, he took me out to dinner.  We sat side-by-side in a cozy booth and he put his arm around me and kissed me and whispered "I love you" in my ear.  And I got steak (the smallest one, six ounces :) ), he got one twice that size, and we shared turtle cheesecake for dessert.  It was so lovely, relaxing and romantic.

Then we came home and watched Smallville, and I know that might sound silly, but we started watching it together while we were dating because Hubby grew up watching it.  (Smallville is the longest consecutively-running TV series in history.  10 seasons straight.)  Now we are borrowing the DVD's from his folks and watching episodes online when we don't have the DVD's for them.  The 10th season ended this spring so we started over with season 1 and are, in the last two months, already halfway through Season 5.  And I love it.  It's something we both enjoy and both get excited about.

I guess this is just my (very long-winded) way of saying, I have an incredible husband, I am so very thankful for him, and I love him SO much!!

How are you going to show respect for the men in your life today?