Thursday, November 8, 2012

Communicating Respect

We are in between studies in Sunday school, so last Sunday our teacher brought her own lesson, well one from the internet anyway.  25 Ways to Communicate Respect to Your Husband and 25 Ways to Show Your Wife You Love Her.  We didn't have time to get through all of them in class, so Bubba and I went through them at home.  He chose five things I can work on and I chose five he can work on.  Here are mine:

1.  Choose Joy - He did elaborate that I usually do a good job at this, but there's a certain time of the month that I struggle.  I know exactly what he's talking about...'nough said.

2.  Honor His Wishes - The list said to give weight to what your husband thinks is important.  He shared with me that above all else, he would like supper ready when he gets home.  This may come easily to some of you, but I absolutely hate to cook.  Deciding what to make, getting the ingredients from the store, putting the meal together at home, and doing the dishes is pure torture to me.  But since that is what is important to him, I am making that a priority. 

3.  Be Thankful - Be appreciative for everything your husband does for you, big or small.  Always say thank you.  This should be easy, but I know that sometimes I let my pride get in the way of this.  He did say that I am not a complete failure at this though.  Just something I can do better.

4.  Respond Physically - This could mean sexually, but for him it was more about responding when he touches me in other ways.  Sort of like flirting.  I was pretty good at this before kids, but now I have three little ones touching me all day and Bubba is the one who seems to get cut off. 

5.  I just noticed that he only picked four.  I think they were big enough and hard enough, he knew he better not pick any more :)

I'll update you how I'm doing on this later.  I decided that he gave me a pretty big list so I might just start with one or two until I master those.  Whether we succeed or not, communication was opened up between the two of us.  We got to talk about our hopes and desires for our marriage.  We even talked about the many things that each of us is doing right.

3 comments:

Fox Family said...

I love this! Good luck! I know when Shawn and I did the fireproof study a couple of years ago...it opened both of our eyes! Open communication makes for a happier hubby and wife...hard to do though with all of the "other" stuff!

erin said...

Ooh, that's interesting. I'm going to google that list. And good for you on the dinner thing. Having dinner ready when my husband gets home is hard!

whatever is lovely said...

I love this post. I love that the two of you took time to sit together and lovingly express the desires of your hearts. I usually enjoy cooking and trying new meals, however, I can totally understand the difficulty of it all. Have you heard of emeals? I have never used it, I understand it is recommended by Dave Ramsey. It is a subscription service that will send you a weekly menu, instructions and a detailed grocery list for your store of choice. If menu planning and shopping is overwhelming, it may be an option worth exploring. If you decide to check it out, make sure you google "emeals coupon codes" and you should easily find a discount code for the subscription. I think I've also seen discounted subscriptions come out on groupon also.