Love And Respect

This time of the year seems to be more difficult for relationships than any other. I find myself spending more time pondering that. Did you know the R-E-S-P-E-C-T was originally written and sung by Otis Redding? Not Aretha Franklin? Learn something new every day. The latest book (Bennie and I) are actually reading together, is called Love and Respect. It accurately describes the "Crazy Cycles" many of us get on and are on at any given moment. And the reason being, like everything else in our life; we get off the track! Take a look at what is stated in Ephesians 5:33: Husbands, love your wives unconditionally. Wives, show unconditional respect to your husbands.

Whoooooa! I'm detecting the reigns being pulled in tight! Isn't unconditionaly respect an oxymoron? I suppose it could look that way, but no more than unconditional love. We all have the tendency to reserve the right to wait until someone earns our love...OR respect, before we think we have to actually give it. But....these words in Ephesians aren't suggestions for us to ponder. We're actually commanded as children of the King to obey these words on how to live towards each other, even when we don't feel like it.

Our first allegience is always to the Lord God Almighty! You know, the One who created us in the first place. It is Him we obey, serve and.....adore. And when we do all the above, we show Him to the world, making Him proud of His children. Our faith is not based on how we feel towards someone, just as His love is not based on how He feels about us, thankfully! If we all got what we deserve .... ouch!

So for me personally, respect is one of the things this book is helping me to understand the importance of. I know the other part is coming soon, the unconditional love thing I want to hear about. God wired men and women a little different from each other. (You think??) And I admit it is sometimes very difficult for me to cough up some respect, especially when I can't see why I should! But it doesn't matter how I feel about it. If I make a habit of living my life according to how I feel about someone or a situation, then I am no better than the rest of the world.

I will update you on the rest of the book as I get through it. The unconditional love part is what we women are naturally wired for, and it talks a lot about that need we have from our men. For now I am just focusing on being obedient. Past experience has proven to me there are rewards for me in doing so; peace, assurance I'm on the right track, harmony in the house, power to stand my ground despite all the opposition, a viscious circle becoming a road I can actually see down, with light at the end, and Who knows what else.... Remember the "golden rule".... in Matthew it says "Treat others the same way you want to be treated." Makes sense, just not always easy to remember.