Our Secret Sauce, His Recipe - I’m Number Two

Our Secret Sauce, His Recipe - I’m Number Two

AS STEVE AND I approach our twentieth wedding anniversary, I know that he adores and treasures me as much as he did on our wedding day. But I am neither adorable nor a treat. In reality, I am one high-maintenance woman. So how is it Steve honors me when I am so imperfect?

Steve’s priorities are different than most men’s, and I know without a doubt that I am number two on his list.

Whatever is of greatest concern to our husbands is what their hearts and minds will focus on. If a man’s priorities are set on making money, improving his golf game, or achieving some other goal, it’s likely that his family, especially his wife, has been or will be moved to a distant third or fourth on the list. And this is why many marriages only exist rather than flourish. If we really, I mean really, want our secret sauce to cook, we must take a look at those things that occupy our hearts and minds and consider resetting our priorities.

So what’s Steve’s number one priority? Steve loves God.

But hang with me here. He’s not a deacon, a leader, a teacher, or an elder in the church. Nope, he’s just an average Joe. As a matter of fact, my husband could be a lot like some of the husbands reading this entry. Steve loves rock ’n’ roll—especially turned up loud. Although I have complete disdain for motorcycles, the only thing he enjoys more than riding his 1972 Norton Commando is tinkering with its parts. And he loves to hug the curves of Texas country roads as I hold my breath and brace myself against the dashboard of whatever five-speed transmission he’s driving at the time. But my fun-loving, bass-thumping, fast-driving husband is a man of deep faith and commitment. He loves his Lord and goes to him for direction.

I can’t tell you why, but there is something powerful about a man who humbles himself before God. There is something comforting about a man who has huge faith. Even though I am Ms. Independent, I know that when life happens, Steve, with his faith and strength, leads our family. And there is something just downright sexy about this man who cherishes me because of his love for God. His faith and his wife are his priorities.

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15, NASB)

Of all the riches my husband could leave our children, he models this instruction especially well: love the Lord first, and everything else will fall in line.