Art Gallery and Blog

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Terri Brady: If I am to be Queen, I Shall be a Good One

(This first bit is from me...Sonya...)
This morning I wrote a little note on Facebook to express a little of the delight I felt when I discovered that my husband had moved the cars around, warmed mine up and cleared it off so I wouldn't get cold in the shut-down-the-schools storm in which I was to travel to work. I looked at the comment again a few hours later and found other lovely comments about him from other men and women we know. So many people "liked" the comment... People I haven't seen since elementary school in some cases ...and I quickly realized how very much we love a hero, a king. We crave such tales from earliest childhood and that longing to hear heroic stories is still within. Then, in the quiet of afternoon nap time I read a blog by one of my own heroes and was again delighted, but not surprised,for my Heavenly Father often arranges my life in this way, to find that Terri Brady had written the most densely packed and perfectly apt article about just that very issue. Here it is...enjoy, ingest, and employ it!

http://terribradyblog.com/


In 1831 in Great Britain, a little girl was studying English history. Reading through the royal lineage, she saw her own family tree and innocently realized that she was to be the next queen. The thought overwhelmed her and her tears drew the attention of her tutor. The little girl explained her plight and her tutor confirmed her destiny. It was recorded that day that the young Victoria said, “If I am to be queen, I shall be a good one.”
Of course, Queen Victoria reigned through much of the peaceful 1800’s so well, that the Victorian era is renown as a pleasant one. Furniture and architecture styles bear her name.
When talking with other wives, I am often asked questions like: How do I get my husband to be a spiritual leader? Or how can I motivate my husband to do more?
My answer is not an easy one – and I didn’t like it when I first came to this conclusion:
If I want to be married to a king, I must determine to be a good queen.
A Chess piece.
Last week, I read the book of Esther. Following aseries of sermons on Esther that my pastor did last year, it struck me how much Esther had to do to be queen!! The year’s worth of beauty treatment and selection process alone are evidence of the Almighty hand in this suspenseful, twisting, true tale of a heroine. (I highly recommend reading that little 10-chapter book of the Bible again NOW!) But the biggest thing that struck me during the book this time was the respect with which she treated the king.
I have been guilty in the past of looking at other women married to successful men and thinkingwow! It must be cool to be treated like a queen! I can’t say I ever really thought about what it would take to behave like one.
I come from the same educational background as my husband: engineering. We both had high scores on the GRE (100% in logic – I know…GEEKville), went to the same college and had companies pay tuition through our scholarships. We went to work in the automotive industry. He worked on engine components; I worked on transmission components and together, we made the car go:).
It is a blessing when a woman can use her abilities to work outside of the home, when she has her Biblical priorities in line (Proverbs 31, for example)…but I hope her husband still feels like a king.
Too often, a woman will use her God-given talents to advance her family, (Her heart is right.) but somehow end up turning her husband into a pawn instead of a king, and then wonder why her husband won’t act like a king. (Of course, I would be equally disappointed with a man treating his wife as anything less than his queen, but I digress from my point in this letter…)
Maybe there’s something to this “act-like-a-queen” stuff!
A spiritual leader will be his best when he has spiritual followers.
I am no linguisticologist (although I can make up words!), but it seems like the word, “encourage,” would break down into “in” and “courage” or, “to put courage into.” (And “discourage,” would be the opposite, or: “to take courage out.”) I don’t know about you, but I always do more when someone is pumping courage into me. What if we pumped courage into our kings? Then we would be queens!
I recently read a blog which inspired me to make my own list of ways to encourage my husband. I am sharing the first 20, but I would love if you attached comments to add more!
Look out, ladies! This past weekend, I read this list aloud to a mixed-gender crowd of a few thousand people in Louisville, KY. I was shocked by the response of the men, who shouted, “Read more! Read more!”
I guess men, like women…and kings, like queens, crave encouragement. Don’t wait to receive in order to give it.
Make your own list… And then live it.
Determine to be a good queen.
20 Ways to encourage your husband:
  1. Enjoy a great time in the bedroom with him.
  2. Send him an email that lists the A-Z things you love about him. (If you can’t do this, it may be part of the problem. Think harder and longer; take your time…even a letter a day.)
  3. Know what his dreams are and make a scrapbook out of them for his review.
  4. Ask him not what he can do for you, but what you can do for him. It is not, “Do unto others only if they do unto you,” but “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.”(Matthew 7:12)
  5. If he is concerned about eating healthy, prepare meals that align with his desires and have them ready. If he would rather eat differently, treat him like an adult…an adult king.
  6. Do “his chores” for a week, expecting nothing.
  7. When he fails, forgive quickly.
  8. Leave him a note in his briefcase or lunch bag, for example: “I am so glad to be YOUR queen.”
  9. Write his goals on the bathroom mirror with dry-erase marker (if he likes your encouragement on his goals, and if he likes to keep his goals to himself – let him! After all, aren’t there some goals we girls like to keep to ourselves, too?:)).
  10. Take care of yourself. Eat well, sleep well, and exercise, so you are the best queen. If you can’t live with yourself, it’s virtually impossible for anyone else to live with you either. Self-discipline helps so many more than yourself, but I could write another whole letter on that subject alone!!
  11. Let him be his own boss. (Too often, I am the captain of the ship when Chris travels and it is easy to let my command-giving fall onto the king’s ears when he returns. – Not a good method of encouragement:))
  12. INITIATE a great time in the bedroom.
  13. Buy his favorite soda.
  14. Have the kids make a “Yay, Daddy!” party complete with notes why they love him.
  15. Talk nicely about him to others, in front of him and behind his back.
  16. Be his advocate when speaking to your kids. Stand up for him, even if you need to buy time, for e.g.. : “I am sure Daddy didn’t mean it that way. He loves you. When he gets home, you can talk to him and clear it up.” How a child talks about his dad tells me A LOT about his mom.
  17. Don’t keep score. “his hours of free time” “his money spent” “his reading time”
  18. Greet him at the door in lingerie (First, make sure he’s not bringing business partners home with him that night!)
  19. Protect his time. Don’t invite people over, or to ride to an event with you, or stay with you, unless he agrees. Your “followership” encourages his leadership.
  20. Stop what you are doing when he comes in the door. (Don’t be on the phone if you are expecting him.) GREET him as though you are happy to see him! “What you have done for the least of these, you have done unto me,” said THE King. (Matt 25:35-40)
Feel free to add more in the comments below…(and kings could anonymously give us queens some ideas, too…)
I can see the crown beginning to grow on your head!
In love,
Terri Brady
Recommended Reading
Esther, of the Bible
Sexual Intimacy within Marriage by Cutrer and Glahn (Good for marriage – with or without existing physical problems.)
Intended for Pleasure by Ed and Gaye Wheat
His Needs Her Needs by Harley, Jr.
    Becoming the Woman of His Dreams
      (Sharon Jaynes) – My FAVORITE marriage book: what 300 men wish they had in a wife (and it had nothing to do with chest size! Phew!)
King & Queen



No comments:

Post a Comment