A wife says, “I want you to know me!”
Her husband responds, “Yes, I want to know you.”

He shakes his head in agreement and then walks away.

He thinks, “I do know her. I know her family, her work history, her favorite restaurant and how she views money. I know all the pets she’s loved, the type of car she likes to drive, the places she’s lived, and the schools she’s attended. I know her favorite pizza toppings, her best friends, the games she enjoys, and how much she hates politics. I know ten thousand things about my wife. And, she keeps repeating, ‘I want you to know me!’”

So, he asks, “What do you mean by ‘know me’?”

His wife explains, “it’s when I tell you, I got rejected today. And, you enter the pain of rejection with me. When I say, ‘I am doubting myself.’ And, you sit with me in the confusion of my self doubt. When I say I’m mad about something and you join me in my mad, hurt feelings. Finally, when you see me grieving and you explore my sadness and grief. That’s when I will say, “You truly know me.’”

Prayer

Father, emotions are sloppy and confusing. If I’m honest, they scare me. I am unsure of myself when I enter the arena of the emotional. And yet my wife needs my presence in the middle of her most painful emotions. Jesus, you sacrificed for me. Help me sacrifice for my wife. Help me enter the arena of emotions. With you and the Holy Spirit, I can do this. Amen.

Meditate on this Thought

“There are three things that are too hard for me,
really four I don’t understand:
the way an eagle flies in the sky,
the way a snake slides over a rock,
the way a ship sails on the sea,
and the way a man and a woman fall in love.”

Proverbs 30:18-19 (NCV)