Monday, July 21, 2008

Love, Honor, & Duty

Relax and ponder these very three words, and what defines each and how each are tied together. I believe that the foundation of any relationship must poured, set, and cured on these three words. Leave any of the ingredients out and although it may seem solid and intact, given time the foundation will begin crack and become unstable. One can use any number of patch jobs to try and mask the deterioration, but short of total demolition, the deterioration continues to grow. Thus giving way to anything built on it.

Love is a personal expression of one's feelings toward another. Too often we say we Love someone, but we never developed the mechanism's required to express and show that Love. So ultimately it is left unspoken, but assumed the other person just knows. In a relationship Love gets confused with comfort. Are we really in Love with that person? Or do we Love the person because the situation is convenient and comfortable? To truly be in Love your partner, the deep desire of intimacy must be present. You can say the all things you Love about your partner, but unless there is a display of affection and a connection of the souls, those things are said in vain. Too often Love is replaced with material gifts, thus the confusion in one's mind. "How do you say I don't Love you, I give you everything you need." Material objects do not equate to Love, they are a mere payment for one's guilt. For one's inability or unwillingness to connect on an emotional level. For example, children from good families are showered with anything and everything. But still end up out of control, hooked on drugs, in gangs
or maybe in prison. Then comes the comment, "how did this happen? they never wanted for anything and this is the thanks we get." When all they really needed was an emotional connection, a display of affection, for someone to Love them. So ask yourself, "am I in Love with my partner? or do I Love the comfort and convenience of my partner."

Honor is a depiction of one's character, having honesty & integrity. It is also a show of respect. Honor your husband or wife, and you will be blessed with a flourishing marriage. Any show of disrespect, dishonesty and lying will always lead to destruction of one's marriage. Not too mention what a lack of Honor can do to one's character. Everyday, by all with whom we interact with, we are perceived to have certain character traits that are liked or disliked. Everyday we live our lives daily under this scrutiny, whether it be at a job, by our friends, or by our partners. We all live by a certain code of morality, of ethics and knowing what is right and what is wrong. Everyday our Honor is challenged with the decisions that we make, and with that we make mistakes everyday. Too truly Honor one's wife or husband, one has to be willing to to say "I am sorry" and "forgive me".

Duty is your moral obligation to someone or something. We have a certain Duty of being a good person, a productive citizen in society, and as a husband and wife. Duty is another way of saying responsibility. Unfortunately the day and age in which we live in, the consensus say that we are not responsible for anything, someone else is always to blame. There lies the problem to our modern day society. Sometimes we never own up to our own mistakes we've made, always thinking someone else is to blame for our situation. As a husband and a wife their are specific duties that are required. As a husband, providing for your wife and family is the ultimate Duty. Not too say the wife can not work, but this thinking of the stay at home dad is ridiculous. If we are truly doing our Duty as men, then we should be taking instructions from God, and if that is the case God did not intend for the women to be the bread winner. With that said, as husbands must provide for the family, protect the family, be the head of the house. As a husband I cannot expect our children to be raised the right way if I am not involved in my household. Lots of men allow the women to run the house without any input, one more example of husbands not fulfilling their Duty. This is not to say that the man has ultimate rule of the house, but he has to be involved with all decisions affecting the household. The Duty of the wife is equally important. Hers is one maintaining the family and household. The ultimate Duty of the wife is to her husband, and making sure that his needs are met. The wife's Duty is much more demanding than that of her husband. Again she must maintain the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of her husband, as well make sure the house is maintained. The husband should not want for anything in his house, and that is the Duty of the wife to make sure of it. Like it our not that is the wife's obligation in marriage.