Catholic Husband

Love / Lead / Serve

Attend to Her Needs

A major theme of this blog is personal service. I believe that the most fun you’ll have is in serving your wife selflessly. If you lose yourself in your wife’s needs, you’ll reap a harvest so abundant that your marriage cannot help but grow.

About once a month, I upload pictures of Benedict to Facebook for my family to see. It’s a nice little tradition that allows them to see him grow without new pictures constantly clogging up their feed. As I was preparing this month’s batch, I ended up looking through all of his pictures since his birth. I’m glad that we live in the era of digital photography where we, “take pictures now, delete some later.” We have a vivd timeline of Benedict’s life. I spent some time thinking back to our stay in the hospital after his birth and how I was Alison’s advocate.

Certainly as a medial professional, Alison can handle her own, even if she is the patient. Yet, in that time after the ordeal of childbirth, I was her servant. I’d get whatever she needed, I’d make sure we both understand what the care team was telling us, and that she was taken care of. It was a time of intense service, and I loved the feeling. So even though I was extremely tired after being awake for so long and sleeping so poorly on the “dad couch,” I was able to put my needs on hold to take care of her.

Caring for your wife shouldn’t just be an exercise in self-actualization. It should be an exercise in humility. It should be an exercise in love. When you attend to her needs, she feels the love that she deserves. When you anticipate what she needs, you honor her place in your life.

Take the time to take care of your needs so you can fully lose yourself in selfless service to your wife.