MY VALENTINE

I have been thinking about writing this post for a week or two.

Since it is this close to Valentine's Day, I am going to dive right it.

This post comes from over 20 years of "love experience". That just made me giggle.

I have been in love with this man of mine for over half my life. It is a privilege and an honor to love someone this long.

Through out this post make sure you think of the word love as a verb.

I still get goosebumps when Mike looks at me a certain way, I still get a flutter in my stomach when he brushes my hand or hugs me, I have a playlist on my iPod entitled "Mike's List" (I have it playing in my ears right this second) and it's not all sappy love songs. Some of them are songs we listened to over and over while riding around in his '66 Mustang convertible:)

I have our song as his ring tone on my phone so anytime you are around me and "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge starts playing you'll know that it's Mike.

I know that sometimes those "feelings" are not there. The days when you and your spouse are just trying to keep your head above water. The days when you don't even like yourself let alone someone else. The days where you JUST. CAN'T. TAKE. ONE. MORE. THING.

Those days are the days that you need to make sure you connect with your husband more than ever. It doesn't have to be much. When you're sitting on the couch just reach over and touch his hand or bring him a snack or make sure he knows in some way that you are still there for him.

Ladies, we are just as responsible for the way our relationship is going as he is. You can sit there and stew about him doing or not doing something all day, every day and that is not going to help things at all.

Oh, and here's a little lie that the world would like us to believe.....are you ready?

.....IT'S NOT OUR "JOB" TO CHANGE OUR HUSBANDS.

What???? Really?

You heard that right.

Guess what? You're not perfect and everything you do is not the best way of doing things.

Shocker, I know. I am speaking from that experience I was talking about up there in the beginning of this post.

When your husband does something for you, don't go behind him and redo it. Don't say~"I'll just do it myself." and please, please don't talk about him to your children.

That will just make them lose respect for him and they won't ever look at him the same way again.

My girls think their Daddy hung the moon and I never ever want to be the reason they don't look at him that way anymore.

When we watch TV at night they are stuck to him like glue and I wouldn't have it any other way. He is, after all, their first male relationship.

Okay, back to the changing thing, your husband will never look at everything like you do and vice versa because we're different~males and females.

That's the way God designed it. And I for one DO NOT want my husband to act, think, or be like me. Oh my! That would just be disastrous.

Sometimes I need him to bring me back to earth when I am spun up about something stupid or when I am so emotional I can't even remember my own name.

This Valentine's Day don't sit around and expect your husband to give you the moon one day out of the year when you give him grief and disrespect the rest of the year.

Pray that this will be the year that every day there's a way to show him just how much you appreciate, love, and adore the man God gave you.

It's a process, this love thing, and it can only work if you are willing to be changed instead of always trying to change him.