Husbands and Wives

I have been reading, at the request of my wife, Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know by C. J. Mahaney, the senior pastor at my daughter’s church. There is also a section in which his wife, Carolyn Mahaney, speaks to wives. It is a short but provocative book.

One statement that Reverend Mahaney makes in the book has particularly struck home with me: “What we love, we want to learn about.” He uses that axiom to chasten husbands for not learning everything there is to know about their wives. He lists 32 possible areas to get you started. Doing a test I asked several men I know what was their wife’s favorite color. The results were not good so I abandoned asking the more serious question about what their wife believed. It seems we men are failing our wives at even the simplest level of “knowing” them.

So, I have begun a journey, a journey of discovery of who my wife really is. It won’t be easy. There is long standing joke about how men and husbands just never are able to understand women and wives. But that observation, no matter how true, is no excuse for not developing a deep understanding of what is, in essence, your own flesh.

This is a dangerous thing to post on a blog, because my wife reads this little endeavor. However, I believe it is worth the risk, the risk of her holding me to task for progress on that journey of discovery. After all, isn’t being accountable part of being Christian?

If you have a limited understanding of your wife or fiancé, I invite you to join me by getting the book and taking your own journey of discovery. The Mahaneys assure me that the effort is more than worthwhile, it is life changing. I think I agree.