The husband played soccer at work today. And as he hurried into the bathroom to take a shower before we leave for the Alpha Course in church, he told me that he needs to return the soccer jersey tomorrow. That meant that we would have to start the washing machine before we leave home so that we can dry the clothes after we come home.
I glanced at the hamper and didn’t see the jersey, so I shouted through the bathroom door and asked him where it was.
He shouts back in reply,“It’s outside in my shoe bag! But it’s very dirty! Why don’t you load the other clothes first and I’ll get the jersey myself later!”
I stood at the bathroom door for a second in bemusement as I pondered his words. I suddenly realized that whenever he returned from a soccer game, he has always loaded his dirty clothes and socks directly into the washing machine so that I didn’t have to touch them. I never thought twice about it as I thought that’s just the way he does things. But all of a sudden it struck me that he has been doing it because he didn’t want my hands to get dirty.
As I disobediently went to his shoe bag and took out his dirty clothes to wash, I thought of the other little ways my husband loves me. Like how he always wipes the toilet rim and lowers the toilet seat after he uses it… or how, after one request from me, he has never failed to wipe the sink counter or the shower door dry after he uses them.
Tonight, I gazed at my husband in the dark after he fell asleep. I felt humbled and grateful and loved. I placed my hand gently upon his head and blessed him. And I thanked God for the gift of a husband who makes me understand why Christ’s love for the church is likened to the love that a husband/bridegroom has for his wife/bride.
Lord, give me grace to be a good wife to my husband. Help me to always be a source of comfort, healing and encouragement to him. Help me to honour him and to be faithful to him all the days of my life. Amen.
Journey of the Heart 
i think it’s awesome that you can see the love in all his little gestures and appreciate what he does for you. too many times we take little acts of kindness for granted :)
actually ann, i was thinking.. have u considered opening your blog to public access? u could regulate the comments that can be posted. just that i feel that some of the sharing that you post of your walk with God and also life with Zibin would be very encouraging to others that read it. there’s so much junk out there in the virtual world, always thought it’s good to share gems :) just a thought.
I’m honoured you think of this blog as a gem, Vee! Actually, the thought had occurred to me before, but I’m still rather torn. Keeping it private makes me feel more free to write whatever comes to mind because I feel that I’m in the company of friends, and it also protects the privacy of those I blog about, and that gives me peace of mind. Cos some of the people I write about or mention by name have quite private natures. I like to be able to mention them and know that they feel relatively protected because only people connected to me have access to it.
At the same time, I have also thought that it would be good to put some of this positive, life-affirming content out into the worldwide web. I do have another public blog (withjoyfulhearts) that I haven’t been posting entries to. I’ll try to make better use of that!