I Want to Love Daddy More

“Do you love you or Daddy more?” The question came from my five-year-old daughter. We were outside soaking in the sun delighting in some light conversation. Light conversation? Then, she dropped this one on me.

Here are the thoughts that ricocheted through my mind–
“Daddy, of course.”
Then my Spirit whispered inside me, “Are you being honest?”
Mentally, I answered myself, “I don’t always treat him that way.”
Then I realized if I were to be really honest I’d say, “Me, I love myself more. I want to love Daddy more. I hope to treat him as if I love him more, but I lean on God for that. When left to myself and my own decisions, I love myself more.”

At this point you might be wondering how I answered my daughter. I told her God is teaching me to love Daddy more. Because that’s what it feels like to me, continual lessons in self-sacrifice, in reaching out and finding ways to build my husband up and elevate him above myself.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4

It’s easy to forget that I’m modeling to my children in every little decision I make. Every time I fill my husband’s glass before mine, I send them a message. Every time I interrupt him, and every time I go out of my way to help him get better when he’s sick and I’m more tired than tired, my children are computing how Mommy treats Daddy. They are absorbing and testing the truth in my words, “I love Daddy more.”

Finally, I think the only way I’m able to embrace the lessons God peppers into my days about sacrifice and pouring out my love is because I firmly grip onto Him and the love He pours into me. Because of what Jesus did and the way He served and loved, I am empowered to love in the same light. I truly can love because He first loved me.