A Laundry Basket of Love

I often miss the obvious. My wife will leave a basket full of laundry in front of the staircase basically indicating to me that I am to carry these dirty clothes to the laundry room, and I will walk around, over, or even sometimes move the basket out of the way so that I can walk down the stairs, all the while leaving the basket behind.

I'm not doing this for any particular reason other than I'm not really paying attention to what my wife is saying. I have been married almost 8 years and this sort of thing still happens.

I've also been a Christian now for over 10 years, and yet I still miss the obvious in my spiritual life, too.

Tonight while with some really good Christian friends of mine the verse regarding "husbands, love your wives the way Christ loves the church" kept repeating itself in my head.

When I got home I looked up this passage and read the rest of Ephesians chapter 5 starting at verse 25. "He who loves his wife loves himself". I missed this before. I must have walked around this basket too.

Knowing the definition of love from 1st Corinthians 13 is really helping me to understand what is being said here in that I should be patient with my wife, kind to her, not envious, not boastful towards her, not proud to her, not rude to her, not self seeking, not easily angered, not keeping record of her wrongs, not delighting in evil but rejoicing in the truth, always protecting her, always trusting her, always hoping for her, always perseveres with her, and never failing her.

It's really beautiful, isn't it? And after all, why shouldn't it be beautiful, since my wife is that way already?