Love is Like a Bucket of Chicken

Each year, when I flip a page of the calendar from January to February, I'm gripped by a sense of excitement coupled with anxiety. Although the calendar photo of a puppy licking a kitten is mildly consoling, I can't help but wince when my eyes drop to a date smack dab in the middle of the month: my husband's birthday. It happens to fall on the day known to the rest of the world as Valentine's Day.

Double the pressure? I'd say so.

After some intense prayer (and a few emotional breakdowns in the shopping mall), I usually manage to pull together a gift bag full of thoughtful things that Chris wouldn't think to buy for himself. Then, when the 14th rolls around, I do my best to look nice, shower him with admiration, and carve out some quality time for gift-giving and strawberry shortcake.

I'd say things went pretty well this year. We ended up working late, but Chris seemed to enjoy the gifts. He also bought me a bouquet of flowers and a bucket of fried chicken. What can I say? He knows me.

Now that a week has passed and the roses are wilting, I've begun to wonder what it would be like to wake up each morning with a mission to show my husband how much he means to me. I'm not talking about gifts and cake. (Although, more cake is always a good thing.) But rather, what would it be like if my sensitivity to his emotional needs were heightened? What if I were keenly aware of how I can affirm him, serve him, spend quality time with him, or share a gentle touch or a gift—just when he needed it most?

Jesus said there's no greater love than when we lay down our lives for our friends (John 15:13). Those of us who are married have been blessed with a life-long best friend to love. Too often, though, familiarity and busyness cause us to neglect our spouse in one way or another. We lay down our lives for our jobs, or our children, or our aging parents, but somehow our spouse's needs fall by the wayside.

Left unchecked, feelings of emotional neglect can cause us to become dangerously susceptible to temptation. When a seductive image fulfills a longing, or the milk man comes along with some compliments we haven't heard in a while, we can find ourselves headed down a slippery slope.

I'm no counselor, but here are a few suggestions on...
How to open the door of communication about your needs:

Reflections on the Game

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Update (9:21 AM, 2/4/2013): We're having a girl!

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I watched some of the Super Bowl tonight... I might as well have tuned in to a Japanese game show sans-subtitles. I didn't comprehend a thing the commentators said, and the action on the field was all a blur of burly men crashing into each other.

Call me un-American, call me a typical girl, call me dull; just don't call me and try to explain the rules. I've resigned to the fact that football is beyond me, and I'm at peace with that.

I came away from the game with just two bits of understanding: (1) The guys in purple won, and (2) beautiful women sure got a lot of screen time. Between the cheerleaders, the halftime show, and the commercials, I saw enough flawless females to make me a little sick inside.