A great way to show love is to give your time for someone else. Time is such a precious commodity, that its value cannot be measured.
I have yet to find a reader that doesn’t agree with that sentiment. Nevertheless, this is the Love in Action post that seems to be the most controversial.
Love in Action Day 5
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves showing your love in a manner that can be as simple or complex as you choose.
Give your time to serve your husband.
What does this mean exactly?
It could mean any number of things. It depends, actually, on your husband. Primarily, you want to show with actions that you are thinking of him and that he is a priority in your life. To get your wheels turning, here are a few ideas.
- Get up and make coffee for your working man before he leaves to go to the office. I know it may be hard to get up before you need to, but it’s probably hard for him to leave a cozy bed to go to work and support his family some days as well.
- Make it a priority to maintain some aspect of the home that is important to him, such as a tidy family room or a clean van.
- Get a handle on his laundry so he always has a full sock drawer, his favorite jeans, an ironed work shirt, a clean bath towel, or whatever he needs.
- Be sure his favorite relaxing spot is never filled with a pile of unfolded laundry or mail.
- Pack him a lunch so he doesn’t have to do it himself, and put a sweet note in to show you are thinking of him.
- Assess your procrastination list and put his needs at the top — fix a button, schedule an appointment, plan a surprise. Just do it.
- Look for something on his to-do list that you can take over to give him a break, such as the filing, a trip to the post office, or paying bills.
- Fill his truck with gas and tidy it up.
- Replace that infernally empty toilet paper roll.
You get the idea.
Whatever you do, do it with love.
No, I am not even remotely implying that you are a hired servant; neither is he your Mr. Moneybags. In marrying each other, you have each chosen to serve the other in love throughout your lives. Even if you both work, there are simple ways you can show your commitment to him.
I know that this sounds very 1950s Cleaveresque. But it works! Love in action works. Loving service works. Mutually serving one another works! Battling over roles, pointing fingers, and whining–they don’t work so well.
Perform your loving service with joy, and with no thought of receiving anything in return (although this may rub off on him). You may surprise yourself to discover how fun it can be to think of different ways to show your hero how much you truly care.
Don’t forget to keep it going for the rest of the Love in Action weeks, or the rest of your marriage.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech
but with actions and in truth.
~I John 3:18
Share your loving service ideas below!
Linked up to Homemakers Challenge and Weekend Whatever.
Toilet paper roll. Funny! I can do that one. 🙂
Except when it’s gone in one bathroom and you have to go find it somewhere else and get distracted several times along the way and forget what you were doing until you find yourself sitting in the paperless bathroom again…hypothetically speaking, of course.
That’s never happened to me 😉 (not exactly since I only have one bathroom anyway)
I’ve been smiling for three days now. My little lambs have stopped asking me what’s so funny. 😀
You don’t realize how much you’re not smiling until you focus on it. I want my family to think of me as joyful and for that joy to wear off on them, so I’m smelling, especially when I don’t feel like it.
I didn’t mean SMELLING!!! I meant SMILING!!! Now I’m LAUGHING!!!
I’m laughing with you! A little too hard, perhaps.
Ha ha ha!!!!
I get up before The Hubs and get his lunch ready and his coffee made. This time of the year I also start his truck for him. Even now that I have to go to work myself I resolved that I would still get up and do these things for him.
Just because I have to go to work do not change the fact that I am his wife and his helpmate. I do these things because the Lord laid them on my heart to do, not out of obligation or demand.
“Perform your loving service with joy, and with no thought of receiving anything in return” Love that statement!
Well said!!! 🙂
I also strive to do several of these things to be a helpmate to my husband. I know he appreciates when things run smoothly. I am now getting up at 5 to cook his breakfast, pack his lunch etc. I can tell when he comes home in the afternoon that he has a better day when I do this.
A few months ago I took a part time job that fit with our schedule perfectly. After a couple of months we realized that things just weren’t as pleasant when I was working. Blessedly I was laid off and we are thrilled about it.
Peace in our home life is so much more important than money in the bank.
Great Post Christy!!!
You’re absolutely right! Peace trumps money any day! Thank you for sharing your story, Natasha. Your husband is very blessed.
Excellent post! I’m old fashioned as well…and I kinda like it. Actually, I love it.
I serve Barry by making sure his clothes are ironed every morning before he goes to work.
Nearly every morning for the past 12 years, I have gotten up before my husband and made him coffee and a light breakfast, and on work days I pack his lunch. He works hard everyday outside in the hot South Florida sun, and I want him to know how much I appreciate him by doing those things and by having our apartment clean and neat, and dinner ready for him after he has come home and had his shower. He never tries to tell me what to do and never disrespects me in any way. I do these things for him out of love, it just comes naturally to me.
Love this! Thanks so much for the reminder. My husband is away this week on business and I’ve been inspired to demonstrate love more effectively towards him upon his return. Your website is lovely! God bless you.
I, too, love this post!! I make coffee for my hubs pretty much every morning. We both work from home, and I find myself having a hard time staying “on task” when he’s here. So, I want to make a better effort to continue to serve him in ways I know bless him (tidy public areas of the house, clean socks – that’s a biggie!!) etc. thanks for the ideas and encouragement!
Thank you so much for writing about this. I struggle with confidence in knowing that I AM a good wife and a good homemaker. To finally read a list that doesn’t make me feel bad is awesome. In no way shape or form, am I bragging, but it makes me feel good knowing that I do all of those. Over the past few years all of those things have become habits of mine.
Where I do struggle a lot is with my kids. So I need to work on that 🙂
-Angell