What does true love look like to me?

This past week here in the Midwest it has gotten cooler. Which means I suddenly get verrrrry cold.

This is a very huge issue between my hubby and I because he is always very sweat and I am always very froze! (Improper usage intended...this is how we talk about it)

Which is not unusual because since we have been married we have battled this in our house! Even my sister in law use to call him the thermostat nazi because nobody is allow to adjust it(when he is home! :) 

Being cold this past week, however, was a problem because I when I get cold, I get shakey and cranky.  

Super dramatic I know. 

And before I lose you from the most boring blog post ever hold on tight because here is where it gets good. 

So I do what any normal person would have done.

I turn to my husband and ask him if I could put my hands in his armpits. Or under his shirt. 

Not because I wanted my hands to smell like man deodorant, but because ARMPITS ARE WARM.  And sometimes I just neeeeddd to warm up.

You know what my hubby does?? 

He says YES.

And my heart for him grows 50 times bigger for him. 

Who in their right mind would say yes to freezing cold icicles to be placed on them?

There were no dozen roses, there was no expensive vacation, and no fancy restaurant date.

I’m pretty sure that this is going down as one of the most strange sentences I have ever blogged (and I would imagine that most of you don’t even have a category for this kind of weirdness), but it was with my hands in my husband’s armpits that I felt the rich reward of a love committed to doing life together.

Forever.

The stuff that makes forever marriages isn’t really in the grand romantic gestures, but in the small, day-to-day sacrifices.  The little moments where one spouse chooses to love and serve the other without hesitation.

I am quite gifted at turning every light on in the house, as well as leaving various appliances plugged in and um ON!! (Last night for instance...after making dinner and baking dessert the usual "babe do you still need the oven" question was said with complete normalcy in his voice.) 

Obviously the hubby loves this about me.  Except not.  But he happens to be quite gifted at turning lights out and remembering to check every appliance in the house before we leave.

And he does it faithfully, without complaining (well, maybe a little complaining because, well, the house could burn down and it cost a lot extra) 

I make sure our pantry is stocked with all of his favorite snacks.

He gets the boys dressed when he knows I need to do my hair.

I put his clothes away.

He laughs at my mistakes (like running out of gas A few blocks from home.)

I admire the way he does the lawn.

I scratch his arm before bed.

And all that and much more 

 is TRUE LOVE, I tell you.

These things certainly aren’t glamorous, but they sure are pleasing to God.

My point?  Don’t stop doing these little things.

What if you do these little things, however, but you have let a seed of bitterness and resentment creep in for one reason or the other. 

Here is my encouragement to you – confess it.  Repent.  Try seeing your hubby as God does – with unconditional love – remembering that God’s heart for marriage is to love through patience and kindness, to look to the interests of the other, to not be easily angered or keep a record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13).

To love and never give up.

And to pray like crazy for your man and your marriage.

It's worth it.

Because when your hands are cold, it’s nice to have someone who will let you stick them in their armpits.