Royal People and the China that Befits Them

"A man's home is his castle".
This would make him a king... or at least an earl or duke or something.
I'm just not sure I treat my man like royalty in his home.

With 2006 about to begin, I am evaluating my chief roles at this time. Consider it a job evaluation. As I examine my servitude of my husband, I see areas where my marks would be deemed 'needs improvement'. One such area, is esteeming my husband in the small things of life.

It's not that I am particularly negligent or ill-tempered toward him. However, as I was speaking with my mom last night, she reminded me to treasure the ordinary moments that I have with him. This is sage advice from a woman that I regard as one of the best examples of "an excellent wife".

Treasuring our husbands means to esteem them highly - to treat them as royalty. In the 1950s this was possibly more popular than it is today. Today we are fed the lines: "take care of yourself first", "pamper yourself", "make sure you have enough me time", etc. Of course, we need to make sure we spend time with God in prayer, meditation, and the scriptures, but as a result of that time with God, we should be mindful to love, and thereby serve, others. This includes our husbands. The bible emphasizes this link in 1 John 4:7, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God." John defines that love in the previous chapter: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."(v.16)

So this is my resolution for 2006: not to make myself comfortable until my husband is comfortable. Some examples of this, which my mother lived out, include the following:
- bringing slippers to the king of the castle when he was tired after a long day at work
- rubbing his feet... sometimes every night of the week
- having supper ready when he came home
- making lunch for him, with attention to his personal preferences
- having his shirts pressed for him
- bringing a cup of coffee (& a slice of cake) for a late-night snack... on her fine china

This last one happened many nights. As a child, I didn't really think about it. But once I had china of my own, and realized it needs to be hand-washed, I marvelled at my mother's love for my father. Three years ago my dad passed away, and about 2 months later my mom was talking about those late evening snack times. She said she was so glad that she had always made those times special for 2 reasons: 1) even though they happened often, they truly were special and 2) she used her fine dishes on the one she deemed truly special.

That has stuck with me ever since. I still don't use my Royal Doulton as often as she did, but it has nonetheless encouraged me to take it out of the cupboard and use it for the most special people in our "castle".