L-O-V-E

Hey GAC Ladies,

Nicole asked me to share some thoughts with you that she and I have shared together, since we’ve started this little love challenge.  When I began the love challenge I was trying to think of some really great things to do for Aaron in the month of February that would really show him just how much I love, respect and appreciate him.  I had thought about packing him nice lunches, giving him cards and notes of encouragement, making him coffee every morning, making a special dinner including all of his favorites, and one of his favorite things would be a nice long neck and back rub.  These are all acts of love that I know he would really appreciate and really enjoy, but they are things that I only do about once a year.  So here we are 10 days into this challenge and I haven't even done one of these!  At the end of each day I feel like I am really failing in my intentions and as usual I am letting everything else (kids, pets, other family members, friends, the computer and laziness) come before my husband.  The only thing I HAD been doing each day is showing him more love than usual, mostly in the way of hugs, kisses and physical touch.  Now I know my husband likes these things, but I didn’t actually think they would be on the top of his list, they certainly weren’t on the top of mine for what would show the MOST love.   I also didn’t think it would catch his attention as much as it did.  Well, to my surprise, a few days into the challenge Aaron had thanked me for how loving I had been with him.  This caught me off guard so much that I couldn’t quite grasp his sincerity.   So after hearing his praise I was thinking that was really nice, but now I am going to REALLY step it up and get started on the list of things I thought I would do for him.  Then last night, 9 days into the challenge some of the ladies from small group and I were sharing how our experiences are going with the challenge.  After hearing some of the things the other ladies had been doing, I again felt a bit like a failure. I have not gone above and beyond and to me that is what I should be doing in this love challenge.  So I thought again, I have to step it up and do some of these things I set out to do in the beginning.  Well to my surprise I sat down this morning to check my email and there was an email from Aaron titled: I LOVE YOU.  I am going to add parts of his email because it is just easier than me trying to retype his words, I cut a little out from the email because it is a little personal :)..........

 Hi Babe,

 Before I get wrapped up into my day and all the chaos of customers, I wanted to take a minute to tell you how much you mean to me.  I see how hard you’ve been trying to be a good wife to me the last week and it means the world.  What I desire most on this earth is your love and attention and you’ve been sooooo good at giving it to me that it makes all the other stuff seem so easy.  Sure, I want a clean house and all that stuff but the way you’ve been loving on me is so much more to me.  I also wanted to apologize for not being the Godly leader I need to be.  I really need to bring God back to the center of our relationship and I will be working on that.  I get frustrated sometimes when I don’t feel like you’re connecting with God but I know that a lot of that has to come from me..I need to lead in this regard and I’m sorry for falling short.

 All this to say…

 I love you sooo much and I miss you and I love the fact that I don’t want to come to work…I just want to be with you.  I miss you and can’t wait to see your pretty face again today!

 Have a great day!  I love you!

As I am rereading this I am a little embarrassed and shocked at myself to be sharing this with you because if it were any other group of women who didn’t know me as well as you, I would be afraid this would be taken in a boastful way, but I love and trust you all SO much!  With all of that being shared I just wanted to express how misaligned my own assumptions have been.  I really truly thought these big wonderful expressions would do a lot more than the lttle things and how wrong I was!  I know there have been times when I’ve been so unloving Aaron hasn’t wanted to be with me, so my littlest of actions have spoken volumes and not just to me but obviously to my man J It has also been such a great impact on him that it has convicted him to see his need for stepping up as a Godly leader  and I NEVER intended or expected that.  In fact, I could have nagged him to the point that he may have wanted to avoid me AND the Lord.  So on that note if you feel like the day has passed you by and you didn't have time to really do what you thought you would do for your hubby or maybe you were just in a bad mood and he may have noticed it, it's never too late to just love on him!  

~Kerry