Date night

One very, very important function of tending your garden is to tend to your chief gardening assistant (That would be the missus!). She is the one who keeps the plates spinning while we trudge off to fight the dragons at the office. When you get home from work, what do you do? Do you immediately shower the dragon blood off? Do you zone out in front of the TV, or behind the newspaper? The essence of my questioning is: Do you tend to yourself? Remember, she has been hoeing, weeding and shovelling fertilizer (thanks for the analogy, dear) all day. If you walk in the door, give her a peck on the cheek and go off to take a nap, is this applying Eph 5:25, loving her "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her?"

Oh, I'm sorry. Were you looking for the comfy, cushy blog? Well, this ain't it! Try the GodMadeEverybodySpecial!.blog at the First Church of Warm Fuzzies. Life-real life-in the Kingdom is messy. It's dirty. It's bloody...with His blood! It always leads to death, but it's the only kind of death that ends in Life!

Brothers, I'm not pointing fingers at you. All of this applies to my sin-stained flesh as well. Father has been gracious enough to me to have encouraged me to establish a weekly date night several years ago. By His mercy, this is an act that has had a profound impact on my relationship with my wife. I will expound on this tomorrow. For tonight, contemplate your arrival at home and ask Father to make you more attentive to serving your wife, rather than being served.
And, um...I will do the same.