I watched from a distance a couple of weeks ago as another woman laughed, giggled and flirted with my husband. Since my arrival in Small Town USA, watching this woman attempt to lure my husband's attention has become something of a past time.
Most of the time, I chuckle at her. My husband, bless him, has no idea she's flirting with him. He has no idea that she's throwing herself at him. In fact, he's so blind to it, most of the time he doesn't even look in her direction when she's obviously trying to charm him. I won't even delve into the million sneaky ways she attempts to touch him.
I probably should say something.
But I don't.
You're probably wondering why I don't pull her aside and explain to her she's being disrespectful to both me and her husband.
You're probably wondering why I don't tell my husband to avoid her at all costs.
Those are valid questions.
And they cross my mind every time I watch her sneak her way over to my husband with the sole purpose of stealing his attention.
But as someone who watched her father be lured away by a similar woman, I can confirm that no amount of demanding, explaining, or talking to will eradicate the situation. In fact, I oftentimes wonder if we pushed my father out the door demanding he act like the respectful, loving father and husband he claimed he was. Maybe things would have been different if we had tried to win him back to us with kind words and encouragement. What if we had truly loved him better instead of being angry?
No matter how much we demand, men are only human. And my short 25 years have taught me that a man will always be charmed by another's smile when his wife doesn't have one for him.
Instead of throwing a fit, I view this married woman as someone competing for my husband's attention and affection. I could go blue in the face trying to convince my husband he must love me for all the days of my life on this earth, but as someone who considers herself a marriage realist, let me just say that my husband won't always love bitter, angry, demanding me.
And could you blame him? That's not the woman he fell in love with.
He loves adventurous, carefree, laughing me. That's the me I hope to always be. That's the me I hope he sees the most of. That's the me I pray continually wins his heart over and over.
After we had been dating several months--which feels like 50 years ago--there was a young woman who came along and told my husband that she really liked him and wanted to start a relationship with him.
At this point, my husband and I were 1,500 miles apart and he really could have done anything he wanted. But he gently explained to her that a woman half the country away had his heart.
Friends, I hope to always have my husband's heart so that if we ever find ourselves in this situation again, he can loudly proclaim that it is me--not some other woman--who won his heart and has kept it.
Here's the bottom line: if there was ever a line crossed where I began to worry about my marriage, I would talk to my husband. I wouldn't grow bitter; I'd spend every waking moment proving to him that he married the right woman.
For now, I pray endlessly for my husband. For his heart. For protection. For the temptations this world throws at him. I encourage you to do the same. You don't know what the dark principalities of this world have planned to lure him away from your marriage. Satan will do everything in his power to destroy your marriage. Don't let him. Don't let bitterness open a door for Satan to enter your marriage.
When my husband blindly misses the desperate woman throwing herself at him, I just praise God. Because my marriage won't survive these flirty ladies if I'm not in constant prayer about my marriage.
Ladies, don't grow bitter or get angry when you find women behaving this way. Remember: you married a great catch! And if you want to keep your great catch, never stop dating him. Never stop pursing his heart. Your marriage just may depend on it one day!
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