...to please my husband. Part 1

First off, I would like to say that my journey to become a wife pleasing to the Lord and to my husband started years before I was married. My heart longed to be someone’s wife, and I knew the Lord (through His Word) had a lot to say about what sort of wife I should be. I began reading and reading and reading everything I could get my hands and eyes on about the subjects of being a wife, mother, SAHM, homemaker, etc. In college, there were a number of people baffled when I purchased (for personal, extra-curricular reading) The Stay at Home Mom by Donna Otto. Since being married in January 2005, my desire to grow in these areas has not changed, though my discipline and determination to carry through are not always where they should be.

Crystal, over at Biblical Womanhood, has been inspiring me lately in all areas related to being a Christian woman, specifically, a Christian wife, mother and homemaker. I would like to dedicate the time and words in this post to one aspect of all of that. From all she has to say on the subject of the Christian wife (and there is a lot), I have been focusing in this week on one little piece. In her discussions on meal planning etc, she shares that we should “cook to please [our] husband[s].”

This little statement packs with it a whole lot of conviction for me! It means omitting menus from our meal plan that I know my husband doesn’t like or doesn’t want. If I may, I’d like to share a real life example from this very week.

I was so excited Monday to complete a meal plan for the week. I have only completed a few in the last year, and rarely do they hold up the whole week. This week I was determined that we would not stray from my plan. Not only did I make the meal plan, but I also incorporated a variety (something my husband likes), decided to make chili for the first time (DH has been asking when I would make chili or stew or the like), reviewed each recipe and made my grocery list. By the time my husband was home from work I was ready to do the grocery shopping, and excited about my accomplishment. As I, excitedly, shared my plans for “tomorrow night’s chili” with my husband, I was annoyed to find that he was not as excited as I. He had other opinions of what ingredients should be in chili, and my left over pot roast was not his first, second, or third choice of meats. Disappointed (and frustrated and angry) by the collapse of my frugally creative dinner plan, I pouted to myself. I reflected at great length at how I’m never allowed to make something I want to make and how I should just stop running things by him. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the Lord checked my attitude and my heart was right again.

“Cook to please your husband.” Ouch! Oh yeah… I’ve been reading that for a week now. Somehow these 5 simple words make it ok that I “have to” let some of my favorite meals go by the wayside. Why? Because I don’t “have to”, I choose to. My heart desires to please my Lord by striving to please my husband. While it may not always be possible to please him in everything, choosing what he likes to eat is a simple thing that I CAN do! I am blessed that my husband is relatively un-picky (though some days it seems he is very picky). The number of things he likes to eat far out weigh the things he would rather not. It really isn’t all that hard to plan my meals around pleasing him!

To take this concept one step further… perhaps all aspects of my home keeping should be planned around what pleases my husband! I’ll explore this a little more in future posts.

Labels: Home Making, In the Kitchen, Life Lessons for Mommy, Prince Charming

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 11:07 AM