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Be My Valentine Marriage Challenge - Week 1



At the end of last week, I posted my intention to participate in the Be My Valentine Marriage Challenge.  I've had the weekend to think of and work on ways to incorporate being a greater blessing to my  husband.  But...I've also found that after 24 years of marriage, I've let some things go!  I've not practiced the things that "praise, encourage, inspire, admire, build up, thank and appreciate my husband" like the challenge encourages.  A few opportunities came up and I realized it will take some deliberate choices to not simply go along with our days, but make an extra effort to make him feel special. 
 
I'm reminded that love is active and is a choice.  Also that my attitude is the beginning point of my actions.  It's not just about what I feel or what my  mood is , but going beyond self and seeking what will be a blessing to him in words and actions.  How I look at little habits, words spoken or actions can make a big difference.  If I look with a critical eye, I will surely find something wrong.  But...if I look beyond an annoyance, to seek something good, I can find a treasure. 
 
Let me share a quick example.  It is Sunday afternoon and I am blogging, my husband is in the recliner napping.  The phone rings.  The phone is near him, but I get up to answer it. He wakes up, gives a sigh and answers it. It is a friend of my youngest son's looking for my son who is not home.  My husband (just being woke up from a nap), takes time to talk to the young boy, asks him about his day, his family, how he is doing etc.  WOW!  I grumbled a bit about getting up from the computer, but he get woke from his nap and is friendly... looking to the interests of others!  I am blessed and have a lot to learn from this gift of a husband! 
 
I found this version of I Corinthians 13 (the Love Chapter)  this week and thought it appropriate for this week's challenge:
 
"This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience
- it looks for a way of being constructive.
Love is not possessive.
Love is not anxious to impress
nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own ideas.
Love has good manners
and does not pursue selfish advantage.
Love is not touchy.
Love does not keep account of evil
or gloat over the wickedness of other people.
On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
Love knows no limits to its endurance,
no end to its trust, no fading of its hope;
it can outlast anything. It is, in fact,
the one thing that stands when all else has fallen.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman
 
 
Here is this week's challenge:
 
 Look for ways to praise your husband verbally. Praise him in front of the kids, friends, family, co-workers, on facebook, tweet it – get praise out anyway you can! Try to mention something noteworthy he has done – in his role as provider, father, husband, lover, or friend. If the thought of trying to come up with one terrifies you, then pray right now that God will give you new eyes to see your husband as God does. Then open your mouth and say something kind and uplifting to your husband today and tomorrow and the next day until Valentine’s Day arrives!
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