True Love Says, "Yes, You Can Put Your Hands In My Armpits."

This past Sunday as the hubs and I were preparing to go back out on stage to lead worship for the remaining part of the worship service, I suddenly got verrrrry cold.

Which is not unusual because our church likes to keep the air on Sundays at 64 degrees.

Being cold this past Sunday, however, was a problem because I had to sing a small solo in the song we would be leading and when I get cold, I get the shakes. Add that to nerves and I knew I would be in trouble! Like the kind of trouble where you are trying to sing and the microphone you are holding is shaking so badly people in the congregation are pulling out Epi Pens.

So I did what any normal person would have done.

I turned to my husband and asked if I could put my hands in his armpits.

Not because I wanted my hands to smell like man deodorant, but because ARMPITS ARE WARM. And I needed to warm up or my solo was going to go down in flames.

Or icicles.

You know what my hubby did? He said YES.

And my heart for him grew 50 times bigger.

There were no dozen roses, there was no expensive vacation, and no fancy restaurant date.

I’m pretty sure that this is going down as one of the most strange sentences I have ever blogged (and I would imagine that most of you don’t even have a category for this kind of weirdness), but it was with my hands in my husband’s armpits that I felt the rich reward of a love committed to doing life together.

Forever.

The stuff that makes forever marriages isn’t really in the grand romantic gestures, but in the small, day-to-day sacrifices. The little moments where one spouse chooses to love and serve the other without hesitation.

I am quite gifted at turning every light on in the house, as well as leaving various appliances plugged in.

Obviously the hubby loves this about me. Except not. But he happens to be quite gifted at turning lights out and remembering to check every appliance in the house before we leave.

And he does it faithfully, without complaining (well, maybe a little complaining because, well, the house could burn down). 🙂

I make sure our pantry is stocked with all of his favorite snacks.

He gets the boys dressed in the morning so that I can finish flat ironing my hair.

I fold his T-Shirts the way he prefers.

He laughs at my dumb jokes.

I admire the way he edges the lawn.

He fills up the gas in my car if it is running low because he knows how much I do not like pumping gas.

I rub his back before bed.

He didn’t act disgusted by me for the 2 whole years I decided to try a variety of all-natural deodorants (none of which were successful).

That is TRUE LOVE, I tell you.

These things certainly aren’t glamorous, but they sure are pleasing to God.

My point? Don’t stop doing these little things.

What if you do these little things, however, but you have let a seed of bitterness and resentment creep in for one reason or the other?

I know. I have been there.

And it’s not a good place to be.

Here is my encouragement to you – confess it. Repent. Try seeing your hubby as God does – with unconditional love – remembering that God’s heart for marriage is to love through patience and kindness, to look to the interests of the other, to not be easily angered or keep a record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13).

To love and never give up.

And to pray like crazy for your man and your marriage.

It’s hard. It’s messy.