WHAT DOES LOVE HAVE TO DO WITH MARRIAGE - Part 2

"Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." Song of Solomon 8: 7

One of the most important responsibilities we have as a husband is to let our children see how much we love their mother. Demonstrating that love builds security for our children and keeps us in the practice of doing the things that express that love. 

Love is a mystifying yet powerful feeling. Whether we have been married 10, 20, 30 or 50 years, we can still wake up in the mornings and our first reaction is to roll over and caress her with a feeling that we never want to let go. We walk by her at some point in the day and we touch her hand with a tenderness that fills us with feelings of love. We sit across from her in the evening gazing into her. We are filled with those same feelings as we recognize that she is just as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside. Our mind fills us with humility in knowing the hurts that have come to her from some of the things we have said and done. Yet, her love and respect for us is still there, and this swells our hearts with feelings of love.     

These feelings are as much from a decision we have made as they are from love itself. From those early roman candle feelings we felt in our first years, we have taken the steps to keep the candle burning, and if we ever feel like the candle has gone out, we ignite it again and again.  

This picture we have painted is seen and heard every day by our children. They see our actions, they feel our emotions, and they wrap themselves in this blanket of security. 

We have put aside the lie that if we leave everybody will be okay and we can still be all the dad they will need. We recognize that there is no security for a child like having the dad in the home. We acknowledge with deep conviction that there is nothing that provides stability in a home like a dad who is present, caring, and loving. Every child needs their dad to be the center post of their life. A boy wants to grow up to be just like his dad and a daughter builds her image of her Heavenly Father from her dad.

I recently read a statement on the most important words a child wants to hear from their dads. Many of us can be very good at telling our children that we will always love them. That is a powerful statement of reassurance to a child. Every child needs to hear often that we love them. The most needed and wanted statement, however, was not of love, What children want to hear the most is that we will never leave them. Think about how your children react when they hear that their best friends dad has left home. Your children face this many times before they grow up. They see the hurt in their friends and it scares them that it might happen to them.  

I have a friend who had a medallion made to give to each of his five children. On one side was written,"I will always love you." On the other side was written, "I will always be here for you, I will never leave you."  In giving this to his children, he asked them to carry it with them where ever they went and to know he would always be with them. 

A dads primary responsibility and blessing comes from leading his children to salvation in Christ. There is no greater responsibility or blessing than to be there in person to experience this moment. But it is awfully hard to do when you have left your family. Statistics indicate of those families that attend church on a regular basis, only 38% of marriages end in divorce. Those that do not attend, the percentage jumps to 60%.

Statistics also indicate that 50% of a child's impression of religion and moral values comes from conversations around the table at meal time. The stability of the family for generations to come can depend on the dad being at that table. 

In Isaiah 8: 18, after Isaiah had learned instructions from the Lord, he responds by declaring; "here am I, and the children the Lord has given me." That is our greatest moment in the journey of life, to meet our Saviour and declare to Him, here am I and the children the Lord has given me. That has got to be the ultimate of emotions, to stand there with the wife of your youth and the family in which God has blessed you.