“My Love”
It was midday and a storm had just passed the night before. The sun had just broken through and the sky lit up, and the rays lit up the windows like a long lost light.
She peeked out of the bedroom door, hands and face only showing slightly and asked “Do you love me?” I smiled and she said “I’m so fat…like a big fat cow. I feel so ugly” she said. I smiled again and
chuckled a little inside. She poked her head out a little further past the door frame and tilted it slightly to the side.
“Why do you love me” she asked.
“Who else would I love” I answered.
I laughed again quietly to myself, and wondered, “how could she seriously ever question whether I loved her? How could she possibly not know how much I cared for her”?
This year would mark our twenty-eighth year together as man and wife. I am now forty-nine years old and she is forty-four and she could still pass for twenty-nine or thirty. She is now and has always been a
beautiful woman, and these aren’t the musings of a love-blind man.
Indeed, everyone comments on her beauty. It’s a clean beauty. Very natural, and not made up. She’s the kind of woman who wakes up pretty with no make-up on or anything. You can just stare at her
forever while she’s asleep.
She washes her face and brushes her teeth and comes in to the living room and curls up on the love seat beside me laying her head on my chest, much like a little girl. I brush her cheek with the back of my
hand and brush her hair back out of her face and kiss her on the forehead.
She lays there for a minute then gets up and makes two plates of pig-in-a-blanket for me for breakfast. She cleans the kitchen, fixes herself a cup of coffee (not really coffee, but more whipped cream and
creamer with a shot or two of coffee) starts a load of clothes and sits back down beside me and eats a couple of biscuits with jam. Moments later she curls up beside me again and lays her head on my chest
and says “lets take a nap baby” and closes her eyes. I brush back her hair a look at her. Her face is so perfect. Perfect eyes. Her eyelashes are long and dark and full. Her lips are chapped and dry at the
moment, but they’re shape is perfect and her shin is smooth and so soft to the touch. Laying there with her eyes closed she looks so peaceful.
As I sit there looking at her face I think about how much she means to me. How much she means to our family. How much she does daily without complaint, and I’m reminded once again of the Proverbs 31
woman.
Proverbs 31:10-31 says;
Pro 31:10 How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels!
I can think of only a few couples in the twenty-eight years we’ve been married that are as close as we are. I know few men that truly value their wives and realize their value. I know of few wives that show
their husbands the love and respect as Christ would have them show.
Pro 31:11 Her husband puts his confidence in her, and he will never be poor.
There are only a few people alive in this world that I trust. My wife is the only one I would trust with everything.
Pro 31:12 As long as she lives, she does him good and never harm.
She always is doing things for me. Sometimes for no particular reason at all she’ll call me in the middle of the day to tell me that she’s proud of me and that she loves me.
Pro 31:13 She keeps herself busy making wool and linen cloth.
She is always making something for the house or for the kids or her mother, and often will drive across town to clean her mother’s house or take her grandmother to the doctor. She babysits her
granddaughter to save our daughter and son-in-law money, even though it absorbs most of the free time she cherishes so much. Not that she hasn’t come to cherish those hours with her granddaughter.
She teaches her Christian Songs and plays her Christian Children Videos, and dances with her daily.
Pro 31:14 She brings home food from out-of-the-way places, as merchant ships do.
She always shops or good and healthy foods for her family. She consistently tries to make new and different meals for us.
Pro 31:15 She gets up before daylight to prepare food for her family and to tell her servant women what to do.
My wife usually rises with me in the morning, takes care of her shopping and any chores she might have. Then shortly after noon she watches our granddaughter till around 9:00 PM the drives ten miles to
pick up our daughter from work. She then takes our daughter and granddaughter home then returns home herself clean house and make my lunch. Sometimes this includes several loads of laundry and
occasionally cooking dinner for our son who usually comes in ate from work. She usually comes to bed around 1:00 AM or 2:00 Am the rises up around 6:30 AM to make coffee and my breakfast. All of this
because she chooses to do so out of love. Not obligation.
Pro 31:16 She looks at land and buys it, and with money she has earned she plants a vineyard.
She consistently finds bargains. I’ve told many people that none of the decorations in our home cost more than ten dollars. She constantly seeks out the best bargains and consistently finds them. She has
earned a reputation with family and friends for being frugal.
Pro 31:17 She is a hard worker, strong and industrious.
A few years ago, she started a small business performing final cleaning for commercial construction projects. Her work is so above standard that none of the customers want anyone else to clean their
projects. She always goes above and beyond what is required to do a good job. The money she earns always goes towards her family. Seldom does she spend on herself.
Pro 31:18 She knows the value of everything she makes, and works late into the night.
I’ve already addressed this. She’s frugal, hard working and dedicated to her loved ones.
Pro 31:19 She spins her own thread and weaves her own cloth.
About six or seven years ago, she decided she wanted to do some crafts and asked to use some of my hand and power tools. I showed her how to use some of the power tools ad soon after that the garage
was no longer mine, but hers. None of us knew she had such a talent for crafts and construction. After few months she was making everything herself. I was really impressed so I bought her some nice matt
cutters and a lot of matting materials. Now half of our décor is made by her.
Pro 31:20 She is generous to the poor and needy.
When we had been married about a year, I got blessed with an opportunity to start a business and had a couple of contracts with this Jewish family in Houston. Things were going well for us and we had a
little extra money. It was winter and we were in the parking lot of this department store and there was this little old homeless lady pushing her cart at the edge of the property. She looked to be in her seventy’
s and appeared to have everything he owned in her basket. She wasn’t panhandling, but just walking slowly at the edge of the parking lot. When my wife saw her it broke her heart. She looked across at me
and asked if she could have some money to give her. I drove over close to the lady and my wife got out and gave it to her.
As I watched her with the old woman I new she had a soft spot for the less fortunate. Through the years she has continued to be just as giving. Always concerned for the lees fortunate.
Pro 31:21 She doesn't worry when it snows, because her family has warm clothing.
For years now our freezer is usually always stocked. And the wash room always stocked with extra toilet paper or paper towels, laundry soap, pantry items etc…When our girls first moved away from home,
they would come over often to wash clothes or to eat and seldom did they leave without a few bags of food from the freezer or bath or household something or the other. She’s always prepared and
prepares for others as well.
Pro 31:22 She makes bedspreads and wears clothes of fine purple linen.
I can’t say that she’s ever made a bedspread, nor is purple one of her colors but as previously mentioned, she provides for her family and makes a lot of our thing herself.
Pro 31:23 Her husband is well known, one of the leading citizens.
Well…unfortunately she didn’t marry very well. I was a carpenter and made good money. I even started my firs business when I was twenty-one, but we were never rich, and I was never one of the leading
citizens, but I believe most of the people who knew me believed that I was an honest guy and hard working.
Pro 31:24 She makes clothes and belts, and sells them to merchants.
She works seven days a week for her family and somehow makes additional time to do side jobs for supplemental income.
Pro 31:25 She is strong and respected and not afraid of the future.
No doubt, everyone I know respects her, but few as much as I do. As far as her children and I…we would go to no one else for customer service or human resource advise.
Pro 31:26 She speaks with a gentle wisdom.
Politically speaking…she’s about as politically aware as anyone I know. Very up to date and understands the reality of the medias involvement in politics. Spiritually speaking…she offers me bits of spiritual
wisdom frequently and ministers to me with a gentle spirit.
Pro 31:27 She is always busy and looks after her family's needs.
I don’t think I could add to this anymore than I already have.
Pro 31:28 Her children show their appreciation, and her husband praises her.
I praise her all the time, and most of her children do as well. I’m afraid that none of us show her the appreciation that she deserves.
Pro 31:29 He says, "Many women are good wives, but you are the best of them all."
She is my best friend, my confidant, my lover, my love and my life. I don’t know one man who’s wife treats him as well as mine treats, respects and loves me.
Pro 31:30 Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the LORD should be praised.
Neither has her charm or beauty disappeared, and she does love her Lord. Therefore I give her praise.
Pro 31:31 Give her credit for all she does. She deserves the respect of everyone.
As for credit…if I have not given her credit or respect before…I do it now…for all the world to see.
I love you Baby because of the person you are and because of the way you love me.
I will always love you...and I have always loved you.
Sometimes we have to express the way we feel. This is the way I feel.
This is “My Love”.
Bryan Woods
02/17/08
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