Our pastor paints a beautiful picture of the marriage relationship.  He talks about the woman's role to submit to and respect her husband, but he also tells of the role of the husband in a way I hadn't quite understood it before.  Ephesians 5:28-30 says:

"In this same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife, loves himself.  After all no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it , just as Christ does the church-...." (emphasis mine)

Our pastor pointed out that a person is very in touch with their own body.  When they are thirsty, they get a drink.  If they are too hot, they shed a sweater or sweatshirt for something cooler;when they are tired they sleep, etc.  A person takes care of themselves, making sure their needs are met.  He pointed out that that is how a man is to love his wife.  To be so in touch with her and her feelings and to feed and care for her.  While I'm doing a bad paraphrasing of what he said, I just had never seen that verse in that light before.  A man doesn't hate his own body....he does what he can to care for his needs.  He doesn't have to think "I'm thirsty...what can I do about that?"  He knows his needs/desires, and he acts upon them to fulfill them. He doesn't say "I'm thirsty, I think I'll take a nap to make it better."   

Now let me explain that I'm NOT saying that a man NEEDS to or even OUGHT to have to fulfill all of his wife's desires.  A woman needs to find that kind of fulfillment in Christ and Christ alone.  However, looking at that from a wife's perspective makes me feel very comforted and protected and loved that Christ wants to provide that kind of protection for a wife.  And while no man (or woman for that matter) is perfect, it's just awesome to know that God has that kind of vision for marriage.  People are often uncomfortable with the women's submitting part of the verses, but what an amazing plan God has here.  And one person's role doesn't depend on the other person fulfilling theirs.  (I'll submit to him, IF he loves me like that.) But the point is that our husband's love and the way Christ has designed marriage ahd the role of the husband is also a picture of how God loves US.  That's just AWESOME to me!!

All this to say, I awoke to such a beautiful thing the other morning.  And it may not even sound like much, but it still gives me goose bumps.  Now that Fall is here in Wisconsin, the nights have been getting pretty chilly.  But when we go to bed, it's still pretty warm, so we often sleep with our windows open. . This night, we had thrown our heavy top quilt over the end of the  bed.  I awoke in the early morning to see my husband standing over me, pulling the top quilt back on the bed and covering me up with it and fixing my blankets around me.  I HAD been freezing, but didn't wake up to do anything about it.  It felt so warm and snuggly to wrap up in the quilt and drift back to sleep.  However, it occured to me what a beautiful thing that was.  It reminded me of what our pastor had taught about these verses on marriage and I just felt SOOO loved.  So loved not only by my husband but by God!  It's just such a beautiful thing.  With the summer we've had, it just felt like a confirmation that I AM loved.  I have the AWESOME amazing love of my husband, but also that God has NOT forgotten about me, and He DOES love me!!