I am not ashamed to say that serving my husband brings me joy. I don’t know if it is women’s lib or the bad state of current day relationships, but some people are going to have a problem with that statement. “Girl..you’re not a slave..you don’t work for that man!”
While it is true that I am not a slave and I don’t work for my husband, I know that when I put his needs before mine or when I cater to him that it brings him joy (and ultimately it strengthen’s my marriage.)
This is not something that came easy for me in marriage. When we were first married, I still had a few selfish ways in me. I would often think in my head, why should I do XYZ for him? He is not doing the same for me. I had the “what’s in it for me attitude.”
And this attitude showed too! So I would fix his plate, or take his car to get an oil change, or fold his laundry, and I just had a bad spirit about doing those things. It was like..here you go..here’s your plate.
But as time passed, I came to realize that the more I put his needs before my own in the relationship, the better our relationship became. He was so appreciative of the little things that I would do for him that he wanted to reciprocate the love.
I would bring him his plate…and he would kiss me and say you are the best wife ever. Or sometimes out of the blue, he would just tell me how much he appreciated me so much. I would be like: “What..what did I do?” And he would say, you just did XYZ for me.
And now my attitude has totally flipped. I am always thinking: “This man is so good to me, am I doing enough?” Instead of worrying about what he has not done for me, I have actually opened my eyes to see that he has always served me in his own way.
The National Healthy Marriage Institute says that one of the keys to happy relationships is putting your spouse’s needs before your own. This will allow you to create a “spirit of service” in your relationship. Here are five more things they want you to know about service:
- “The antidote to selfishness is service.” It’s difficult to be selfish when you are serving your spouse. Service forces you to put the needs of your spouse before your own needs.
- “The spirit of service is contagious.” Give it a try. They say that your spouse will begin to reciprocate in about 3 weeks. So continue to be consistent with your service and watch your relationship change!!
- “Serving your spouse does not mean tolerating abuse or unacceptable behavior.” If your spouse is abusing you physically or mentally, you need to seek help immediately.
If you are having a problem with serving your spouse, then I ask you to put it to the test. Make a list of 5 things that you can do every day to serve your spouse and do them consistently. And do them with a cheerful heart and without any thoughts of what you may or may not get in return. And you will begin to experience “the joy and happiness in your marriage that accompanies service.”
BMWK – Have you experienced selfishness in your marriage? How did you deal with it?