This post at Study in Brown is very good....

See it here: Wanted: more mothers.

The world needs more mothers. Yes, it does.

It saddens me that our society has become so sexualized. I think it has skewed many women's concept of what they should be in the world.

Good, wholesome nurturing that cannot be misunderstood as sexual in any way can be achieved without being so prudish that you repel those who might need it.

We need to strive to be attractive without a hint of sexuality or provocativeness.

("Sexy" used to be a word that was only whispered and wasn't a compliment. Now, it is all over the place.)

If we are that way with the world--attractive without a hint of sexuality--, then what we share with our husbands will mean that much more to him because it is for him alone.

Husbands as priority, pleasing husbands, honoring husbands

I'm still thinking about husbands. . .

My husband should be my second priority, after God.

That means that his priorities should be my priorities.

What are his priorities? Well, I may not know all of them, but I do know three of them:

• nutritious meals for himself and the family
• and for me to be content (or "happy"--his word--but I think he means content)
• kids to pick up after themselves more
  

And God, in His infinite wisdom, gave him a wife whose weaknesses are:

• regular, healthy meals
• a complaining spirit
• consistent training for the kids on picking up after themselves
  

Not that I never do a good meal or that I complain all the time or that I never work with the kids, because I do, I don't and I do, but . . .

These things are hard for me.

I certainly need work on these areas. I think this means that God wants us to grow, but it also means that to please my husband, I have to make sacrifices. I have to spend my time doing some things other than what I want to do. (It is so easy for me to justify time spent doing what I want because I spend so much of my time on the family and on the kids. And the time is usually related to the kids or homeschooling. But it is just that: justification.)

I should do what I can to please him.

Making his priorities my priorities is one way to be more pleasing.

I recently received a Laine's Letter and she talked about honoring her husband. Behaving in a manner that brought honor to him.

That is, being a good wife, mother and homemaker so that he will be held in higher regard because of those things. Also, allowing him to be free to "sit at the gates." Free to do business.

After all these years of marriage (almost 15), I still have a long way to go.

LORD, help me to make his priorities my priorities; give me the will and energy to do the things that are important to him; help me to bring honor to him and give him the time and freedom to do what he needs to do. Amen.

Priorities (again) and being pleasing

Is wanting to please your husband part of making him a priority?

Is it possible to have your husband be your second priority (after God) . . . and forget about trying to please him?

If I make a list of things that are important to my husband and then try to do those in an effort to make him a priority . . .

would a list of things I could do to please him be different?

Things I am mulling over today.

Husbands as a priority

Well, I have gotten the message. Now, the trick is to make a real change in my life.

My priorities should be, God first, husband second, kids third.

Although I knew this, I wasn't practicing it.

I'm not doing right by my husband.

I've had the book, A Woman after God's Heart by Elizabeth George for a long time. I think it is a deceiving book, in that it is easy to read and as I read it, I kept saying to myself, "of course!' But there is real depth there. Getting the intellectual knowledge down from my head and into my heart has been another matter.

I picked it up recently and read a part about priorities and I realized that I have not made my husband a priority. He is so good and does so much for the family and seems so completely self-sufficient, that I have put the kids ahead of him in many ways.

I'm hoping to make a real change. Let me rephrase that: I am praying that God will help me make a real change.