I woke up this morning with a particular scripture on my heart and even before I opened my eyes, a word floated into my thoughts along with a whole view of my recent actions and what they ought to have been.

Here is the scripture:

…let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. (Ephesians 5:33, Amplified)

In my Bible, this scripture references another in First Peter. Let’s take a look at that one too.

In like manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives, when they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him-to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband]. (1 Peter 3:1-2, Amplified)

These two scripture are filled with powerful words that describe how we, as godly wives, can love our husbands. I heard yet another word this morning in connection with the first scripture. I heard the word ‘interest’.

I don’t recall where I read or heard this word in connection with this scripture but I knew when I heard it that love is supposed to show interest in others. Wives are supposed to show interest in their husbands.

We recently moved. We are still living out of boxes. I wake early each morning and begin unpacking. I unpack all day and unpack one last box before going to bed each night. I am very interested in getting all our stuff out of boxes and where it belongs.

Yesterday my husband came home from work excited about something and began talking to me about it, as I unpacked yet another box. As he spoke, I wondered where to put this knickknack I had just unpacked. Would it look good here? Would it look good there?

I then remembered an area I had decorated earlier and interrupted my husband and said to him, “Come look at this!”

Sounds bad I know. I didn’t even realize I did it until I woke up this morning with a scripture and a word that shined a light on my behavior.

It gets worse. Then as he tried to share again, I realized just how tired and hungry I was. When you are unpacking a whole house you sometimes forget to eat and forget what time it is. I then interrupted him again to find out where he was taking me for dinner. (I hadn’t found the box with my pots and pans yet.)

I cringe just thinking about it now. Thank God for His mercy and for His forgiveness by the cleansing blood of Jesus. If my husband is reading this before I get a chance to speak to him. Thank you for your mercy. Please forgive me.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not rude or unmannerly. It does not act unbecomingly. Love  seeketh not her own. She does not insist on her own rights or her own way, for love is not self-seeking. I’d like to add that love shows interest in others.