Honoring Your Wife Through Nurturing Your Family

Nurturing your family also honors your wife.

Dungy, Tony; Nathan Whitaker (2011-02-21). Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance (Kindle Locations 599-600). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Every weekday morning, my family has a team meeting.  Christi briefly goes over each child's schedule, pointing out any activities that may be out of the ordinary or schoolwork that may need extra attention.  She lets the family know if she will be at her Growth Group that morning, or if she will make an afternoon grocery run.  If I have anything happening outside of my normal work routine, I jump in and share as well.  Then, we pull out our Bible and Josh McDowell's Family Devotions book.  After we finish the day's reading, we spend some time talking about the lesson and applying it to our lives. Finally, one of the family will pray - we follow a youngest to oldest pattern - and we will get on with the day.

Saturday, about mid-morning, I dug out 'Ticket to Ride,' one of my favorite board games.  I sat down with Christi and the older kids and we played.  I think it took less than an hour.  We had a great time.

That afternoon, I took my youngest to the mall while the older two went bowling.  We hung out for a couple of hours, talking and playing.  "Daddy, do you think you could carry me on your shoulders?  That way we can go faster."  I think that was my favorite part of the trip!

In the evening, I introduced the older kids to Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, and James Bond: Quantum of Solace.  The older two heard references to those movies but didn't understand the context.  So, I felt it was my duty to educate them.  Christi carried our youngest to bed and read a book in peace.

When invest in my family, I honor my wife.  I honor our marriage.  I honor our past and I honor our future.

There was a time when I rarely did any of these things.  If I did them at all, it was usually with a crappy attitude.  Let me tell you something I've learned - the right actions with a bad attitude produces fruit that is usually bitter.  Our house was not a happy house.

Then I woke up.  I realized I was living the life I designed.  If I wanted something different, I had to become someone different.  I had to do different things.

Life is so much better now than it was then.  I don't ever want to go back.

photo by Theen Moy