Loving My God, Loving My Man!

Friday night Chloe, my 2 year old, slept over at her Grandparents so Scott & I (and baby John) had a date night all planned! Scott was off work at 3:00pm so we went grocery shopping, to the movie store, the Chinese take-out and home again for our "date". This was planned early on in the week but it did line up with a post that I read Friday morning on Date Night at Home. After reading that, I ensured that I put a little more effort than usual into my appearance and wore makeup and heeled pink sandals (Yes, I was freezing!)

Anyway, we had wonderful Chinese food while snuggling on the couch watching the movie "Fireproof". The movie and book were created by Alex and Stephen Kendrick who serve on the pastoral staff at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. It is the story of a couple whose marriage is in trouble and how they come to know the Lord. During the movie, the father shares with his son "The Love Dare" which according to the movie is a 40 day journey to truly loving your spouse. Some of the "dares" for each day included saying nothing negative, doing something unexpected, contact them at an unexpected time to let them know you were thinking of them etc.

While I am generally not a person given to run with the latest craze, the idea of a Love Dare intrigued me. Saturday, as I pondered it further, I was thinking about how we not only need to love our spouses more deeply and truly, but our Heavenly Father as well. I decided then that I would purchase The Love Dare and work through it, not only to be a blessing to my husband and to work on loving him more, but to deepen my relationship with the Lord as well.

In the bible, God has laid out the blueprint by which we should build our relationships. He has established a perfect order: God, Spouse, Children and then everything else. The first two, my relationship with God then my spouse, are the foundation of my home. Builders know how important solid foundations are and God is the Master builder! He has set this order because he created us to thrive when we are following this pattern he has laid out. I wish that I could stand up and boldly proclaim that I have arrived and my ducks are all in a row. However, especially in this season of my life with a 2 year old (sometimes two of them) and a baby, I have to admit that many times my order is completely backward with priority on my children, then spouse and God gets what is left.

Don't get me wrong, I have a great relationship with my Lord and my spouse. I love them both! But I know I could love them more; to love less selfishly. I hope to deepen and strengthen both of these relationships. Over the next several weeks, I will be reading through The Love Dare and working on implementing these actions (& proof of my love) into my life. In considering this challenge, I can certainly say that this falls into the category of 'tune-up" and therefore, over the next ? weeks it will be the Tune-Up Tuesday focus. I will be posting the challenges online, if you'd like to purchase you own copy of the book, visit my A-Store on the right hand column.

I encourage you to come along on the DOUBLE LOVE DARE: TO LOVE GOD & HIS WORD MORE AND TO LOVE YOUR SPOUSE & FAMILY MORE. Participate when you are able. As with all of my Tune-Up Tuesdays, there will be a Mr. Linky so if you want to post along with me, link up! The links are up indefinitely so if Tuesdays don't work for you, pick a day that does. For non-bloggers, the comment section is always open to you.

A journey is more fun with company and surely I'm not the only one who could love my God or husband better! With that being said, tomorrow morning will be our first challenge. I'll see you then!