What physical characteristic of your spouse do you most enjoy? (Week 7)

November 20, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: 50 fridays, Marriage

Pretty is something you’re born with. But beautiful, that’s an equal opportunity adjective. – Anonymous

What physical characteristic of your spouse do you most enjoy?

My dad loved my mom’s hands.

I can remember as a teenage boy often hearing my dad say to my mother how much he liked her hands. He described them as “petite, beautiful and perfect”. I would think to myself, “They’re just hands. What’s the big deal. One day, I’ll find something better than hands to like about my wife!”

Years later, when my mom died, I walked into the kitchen one day where dad was washing dishes at the sink. As I got closer to him I saw tears running down his cheeks and I asked him what was going on. I’ll never forget his reply, “Every time that I see soap bubbles in a sink, I can see your mom’s hands washing so many dishes through the years. I miss her. I miss her hands that served and loved us so well.”

It’s good and it is right for us to enjoy the physical attributes of our spouse. Even a quick reading through the Song of Solomon allows us to see how this couple delighted in each other’s bodies (wives read Song of Solomon 5:10-16 and husbands read Song of Solomon 7:1-9). And yet, the essence of lasting love is not just in the physical – it’s a deeper and more intimate connection that sees and knows each other deeply … intimately … passionately … tenderly. An intimate marriage celebrates and enjoys the inside of our spouse even more than the outside.

In the course of my parents’ marriage, my dad came to understand that the physical should point to something of even greater significance – the character of his wife. For dad, mom’s hands represented her gentle touch, her acts of service and her compassionate heart.

As you think about and enjoy physical characteristics of your spouse this week, remember that time has a way of changing and reshaping and even wrinkling the physical. But when we see the physical as an expression of the internal, our appreciation of beauty in our spouse grows through the years.

Jeff Helton
Marriage and Family Pastor
+ Fellowship Bible Church
+ 50 Fridays Challenge