The Best Gift You Can Give is Honor and Respect

Have you ever seen those memes floating around social media that are, well, not so nice. They are putting someone down. Making a “comical” insult. Laughing at the expense of someone else. But they are funny…So that makes them ok…Right?

The ones that bother me more than any other, are the ones against husbands and wives. You know. The ones that shows a woman sitting on the couch eating a box of chocolates, implying that’s what a stay-at-home-mom does all day . Or the one equals husbands to children.
Let me ask. What good comes out of this?

I’m sure those that created these image & memes, don’t care if any good except high social media engagement occurs. They may be the ones that also don’t value people, especially their spouses. They just don’t understand what it means to uplift and encourage others. And who needs that more than a overworked husband or exhausted wife?
Maybe they weren’t taught the old message of: If you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.

Uplift: to lift up, raise or elevate another

If we share in these messages of doubt, dishonor, dislike, poking fun and putting down of others, then we are no more honorable than the creator of those messages.
The more we participate in actives, the more normal that activity becomes. This is one activity or thought process that you don’t want to become normal and bring into your marriage.

Encourage: to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence.

This type of thinking, ruins marriages. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. A wife pokes fun at her husband’s masculinity, thinking it’s just a joke. A husband comments negatively on how hard a wife’s day must have been as a stay-at-home-mom.

We need to quit putting each other down. Don’t say anything if you can’t squeeze out one tiny little complement. But really you can find something nice to say, I promise, there is something. If you can’t find it, they you aren’t paying attention to your spouse, and that’s a whole other topic.
Your children are watching you, looking up to you, repeating you! If you are negative in your home with words, then you can bet your children are doing the same thing at school. Do you ever wonder why there is so much bullying? It starts at home. Children learn their behaviors from us. If we put down, gossip, talk bad, use hurtful words about others, then they think it’s ok to do the same.

They will poke & prod at each fellow student’s slightest imperfection (and we all have imperfections). They will gang up with others that have the same thinking and really make another child question their worth and very existence. This is not a behavior you want your children being a part of.

Respect: to hold in esteem or honor; to show regard or consideration for; to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with.

Use your words for good. Change the image you have of your spouse. Build each other up and quit tearing each other down. Show your children what it means to respect and encourage others.

Honor and respect your spouse. They are worth it and so is your marriage!

Honor: to hold in honor or high respect; revere:

Photo credit: (c) Can Stock Photo