Key #6 - Love Your Spouse

1Corinthians 13 says: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Two sweet examples I’ve seen among friends in love. 1) Husband comes home after a long day at work, a stressful commute, and working out.  Wife says she’d like some chicken on the grill.  Husband, without hesitation, goes outside and fires up the grill in order to hook it up. 2) Next week, after dinner the husband and wife are just watching TV. Husband says he’d like some cake and is wondering if there is any left from the weekend. Wife immediately gets up to go bake a cake for him since the cake from the weekend is gone.

Remember we talked about loving our spouses in practical ways and submitting to one another?  This is practical. This is submission.  After work we are tired. After running a household all day we are tired. After going to school, running a business, caring for others, training, etc., we can be tired and many times we just want to sit down and rest. These two sacrificial acts came from love.   It’s simple; not a big deal.  And yet, it can be such a big deal because it’s hard! But it sends the message to your spouse that you care for and value them – that you are willing to meet their needs even when it may be inconvenient.
How do you show your spouse your practical and sacrificial love?