After you read this, you might shake your head and say this is way too simple to make a difference. But I challenge you to try this. And don’t quit! These suggestions are also pleasing to God, if they are carried out. If you are a believer, you aren’t living to please yourself or manipulate others so you end up on the winning end. And only 5 things to remember! You can do it: 5 REALLY easy ways to bless your husband!
1. Say Please and Thank you
We get all too familiar with our husbands and often forget our manners. Here are some situations that you might not think to say these words. You would say them to a total stranger! Why not your husband? Try to do this all the time. Here are just a few situations you can do this.
- When he holds the door for you
- When you ask him to do something for you
- When he does what you have asked. You can add to your simple thank you by telling him how much it helped. Repeat your thanks later too.
- When he does something you haven’t requested. For example, if he remembers something you forgot and reminds you (I am always forgetting something when I walk out the door!)
- When he does something all the time that you realize you are pretty much taking for granted, thank him.
2. Laugh at his jokes
It’s amazing how often I see wives who are honestly weary with their husbands’ sense of humor. Yes, you’ve heard the same pun a million times. What works for me in this situation is that the crazy amount of repetition becomes funny in itself! Here are a few ways to inject humor into your relationship.
- Cultivate your own sense of humor. Meet his joke with a joke of your own. (and don’t be offended if he thinks his is funnier. That is funny too!)
- Cultivate private jokes. These are things that become precious over the years. Remember funny situations you have shared together (sometimes the worst times become extremely funny over the years!). I also think of amusing things our children or grandchildren have said that have now become a part of our vocabulary. They become intimate, because no one else gets them!
- Even if his jokes are really annoying, ask the Lord to give you the grace not to act unbecomingly. I think of this the same way I think about snoring. Someday I may be lying in bed alone, and how much I would miss his snoring if my husband goes to be with the Lord before I do. What your husband really wants is for you to appreciate him. You can appreciate his effort and tell him so!
- This takes wisdom and discretion, but try to appreciate humor in hard situations. I have a friend whose husband can do this, and it is really a gift that breaks the tension. If your husband has this, be thankful and tell him so!
3. Cook something he really enjoys
You know what he likes. You know what you like. Make something he especially likes when it isn’t a special occasion.
4. Greet him at the door when he comes home, and walk him to the door when he leaves.
Make him feel welcomed in his own home. Sounds like a no-brainer, but this kind of thing can easily fall through the cracks of busy life.
A hug and kiss at both times would not be a bad idea! Put down what you are doing when he comes in, wipe your hands on your apron or child’s hair (haha 🙂 or whatever you need to do, and greet him. Do the same when he is leaving, and wave from the door if you can.
I learned this from my parents, who also walked me to the door when I was an adult leaving their home for my own home. They would stand in the driveway waving. I get a lump in my throat remembering this because they are no longer here on earth.
Jack tracks me on his phone and when I am coming home, especially at night, he will open the garage door and be waiting as I pull in. It makes me feel safe and loved. Now I try my best to do it for him!
5. Prioritize him over your phone.
Yeah, I saved the best for last! I was in a crowded shopping center and I saw a wife texting, oblivious to the traffic in the street. Her husband gently pushed her out of the way. She never missed a beat, unfortunately. And she was obviously annoyed at him for disrupting her text. He muttered to no one (because she wasn’t listening), “she never stops texting”.
We see it in restaurants and coffee shops all the time. I am as guilty as the next person. Put the dang thing down and look him in the eye and listen to him if he is talking to you!
So there you have it, 5 REALLY easy ways to bless your husband.
And they pretty much don’t cost you anything except the respect, humility, and love he deserves. Give it a go and let me know how it goes!
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