The Love Dare - Day 5

It's a good thing we don't need to be strolling along a quiet beach somewhere in order to demonstrate love to our spouses.  Today wasn't that day at our home!  Karen's day was packed full from 5:15 am to late evening (work plus hosting a wedding shower).  We didn't even have a meal together.  On the other hand, I took the day off and did nothing at all.  I was in one of those periodic moods that makes me happy to be completely unscheduled and alone.  (Budgeting season tends to inspire these moods!)  It would have been easy to say, "I'll just have to skip the Love Dare today."  We certainly wouldn't be able to have the conversation suggested in Day 5 of the book!  But there's no loophole that suspends God's command to 'love one another' simply because we're busy or don't feel very social.  So, in the spirit of 1 Peter 3:7, which directs husbands to "live with your wives in an understanding way," I found a way to show Karen my love for her while letting her keep her commitments and letting me maintain my solitude. 

More than anything else, Karen is a wife and mother, which means she always feels the weight of staying on top of things around the house, like keeping our refrigerator stocked.  With one person or another raiding the frig at almost every hour of the day (and night), it presses her to keep ahead, and she feels badly when she doesn't (which isn't that often).  But after Karen left for the shower, I noticed we were completely out of every kind of milk that various people in our home like to drink.  There was my opportunity!  I walked to the grocery store, restocked the milk, then did a few assorted clean-up tasks around the house (always a winner when 'acts of service' is your wife's love language).  And I did it all in blissful solitude!  Thank you, God, for letting me actively love my wife, even in her absence, while enjoying a gift from You at the same time! 

And on a side note, you might wonder why I walked to the grocery store instead of driving.  Funny thing about the cars in our family.  With 4 drivers and 3 cars, one of us is always left on foot - and I'm the one!  I like to say, "I just buy the cars around here - I don't get to drive them."    :-)