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Key Bible Verse: And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church ( Ephesians 5:25 ). Bonus Reading: Ephesians 5:25-30

A Wal-Mart store became more than a retail hub in the rural town where I once pastored. By hosting events for senior citizens and children, it became the town's social center. Florence, an older woman in our church, made the store her second home. Shopping for "a few things I need" became her daily excuse to meet friends and catch up on the latest happenings. Florence's retired carpenter husband, Bill, was an outdoorsman who spent his days fishing and puttering at their lake house.

Bill didn't really understand his wife's enjoyment of Wal-Mart shopping. But when Florence's age no longer allowed her to drive herself there, he soon recognized how much she missed it. One day he decided to forgo his time at the lake house. He drove Florence to Wal-Mart and stayed with her until she was ready to leave—which wasn't soon. On the many subsequent days that Bill took Florence to the store, he took along a folding lawn chair. They'd amble down the aisles together until Florence would strike up a conversation. Then Bill would unfold the chair and sit in the aisle, silently beaming at her enjoyment, until she was ready to move on.

—Bryan Chapell in Each for the Other

My Response: What "give" do I need to volunteer in the give and take of marriage?

Thought to Apply: When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.—ERNEST HEMINGWAY (author)

Adapted from Each for the Other (Baker, 1998) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Your Son taught us, Lord, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Help me to believe it and apply it in my own family.

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