Marriage Moats-Am I Pretty?
Published: Sun, 01/09/11
| Marriage Moats | Caring for Marriage |
 Pink and twirly matters a lot when you are five. You should see my daughter twirling around our living room. She absolutely beams with delight. Twirl left, pause. Twirl right. "Daddy, watch!" she calls as she spins and the skirt does its thing. "Daddy, look at me! Do you think I'm pretty?"
This is the beginning of the chapter on Beauty in Jeff and Shaunti Feldhaun's book For Men Only. He describes a woman's need to feel beautiful for her husband. I remember a friend in high school who was seriously dating the man she later married. One day when she was going somewhere where her boyfriend would not be I said she looked pretty and she scoffed "Why would I want to look beautiful for someone other than Chris? That's gross."
I was shocked. Her wisdom at such an early age still impresses me. She turned my own thinking sharply... beauty is a gift to the man you marry.
Jeff offers Five Facts for floundering husbands.
Fact# 1-Inside my dear wife, that little dancing girl is still very much alive. Only now she twirls for me.
Fact# 2-In our marriage, whether I find her beautiful may or may not be foremost in my mind, but it is an everyday issue for her.
Fact# 3-In our house there is really only one mirror, and it is me.
Fact# 4-Every day, I can reflect back to her the words she so needs to hear. But if I don't I leave her vulnerable to both her inner questions and external pressure from an intimidating world.
Fact# 5-In my hand I hold a hammer.
Before marriage a woman wishes to be beautiful for men in general, but after marriage, if she is chaste, for her husband only and not for other men.
-Marriage Love 330
photo by Jenny Stein
www.caringformarriage.org
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