Ephesians 5:33 – To sum up, each of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband. (HCSB)

Ephesians 5:33 tells husbands to love their wives and wives to respect their husbands. When we said “I do” both my husband and I fully intended to unconditionally love, respect, and admire each other. I had great intentions of being the perfect wife, offering nothing but kind and encouraging words, perfectly prepared dinners every night, and a life of candlelit romance. Then the fairy tale bubble came in contact with the sharp pin of reality. Sometimes my words are less than kind and not at all encouraging. Occasionally dinner is a buffet of whatever the refrigerator has to offer. There have been times when candlelight was just a sign that the electricity was out. There have been easy times and difficult times, lean times and plush times, times of laughter and times of tears, times I wanted to hug his neck and times I wanted to wring his neck. There may have been a few times he thought I was less than a delight too. But, no matter what or when or how life came at us, we have stood together because we hold tight to our love and respect for each other. I do not belittle the man I promised to love, honor, and cherish and he declares his love in words and actions. Daily life can come with time devouring stresses and the excitement of doing laundry has waned, but I am so glad two clueless kids stood in front of family and friends and promised to love each other forever. To paraphrase Song of Solomon 2:16, my husband is mine and I am his, dirty laundry, leftovers, and all.