“I need you to value me more.”
The statement immediately made my eyes well uncontrollably with tears. Throughout our entire conversation I had maintained a level head… but this statement broke me. If my husband needed me to value him more, it implied that I had failed to show him how I actually felt about him.
I hate that.
The tears came and I disappeared into my head. How have I failed him this much? Because, in the depths of my soul I know how much I do value him, how much I do love him, how I continue to feel like the luckiest person that he chose me…
The TV.
It always comes back to the TV. Maybe not always directly, but this incident has taken center stage too many times, and as a result, always seems to be looming backstage in our marriage.
What about the TV? You may be wondering…
Before we got married, I owned a TV. A decent TV. A flatscreen Samsung that had done me no wrong in our time together. This TV was quickly relocated to our back bedroom when we returned from our honeymoon to the giant TV my entire family had given us as a wedding gift. And while my TV was used for nothing more than the occasional P90X workout (where there was room to move about), it was still a great TV.
In our first year of marriage, my husband loaned the TV out to a friend who was staying in the hotels on campus. I didn’t know my TV had gone elsewhere… and normally, I wouldn’t have cared. However, in the middle of summer at a summer camp, when you loan someone something, you generally don’t remember that you did. It’s pretty low on the priority-level. I get that. But it was also a great TV.
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| if anyone has seen my TV…. |
And soon, it was a missing TV.
“Hey, did you ever get our TV back from the hotel rooms?”
“No…but I will.”
Weeks went by. Months. No TV.
I didn’t bring it up all that often, but it became a point of bitterness for me.
It was our first year of marriage and I felt like if I asked about it too much, then I’d be nagging. I didn’t want to be the nagging wife. But, I did want the TV back.
We went for a walk a few months later and when I thought about the TV, I began to think of all the other things that my husband had promised but not finished. The floor of our bathroom he said he’d fix after the dog destroyed it, the trash he said he’d take out, the dishes he said he’d wash, the freaking TV he said he’d get back. Suddenly I realized I was married to a man with no follow-through and no initiative. At least, those are the things you immediately believe when you recall the hundreds of instances he let you down (or 5) and forget the millions of instances he came through for you (literally millions).
We never got the TV back.
No one seems to have seen it. We both asked and looked and it’s just gone.
Sometimes I’m still annoyed about it (and sometimes we just laugh about it).
So when my husband asks me to value him more, I can’t help but think that it’s because of these moments. These moments when I’ve convinced him that he’s a disappointment because sometimes I’ve also convinced myself of the same thing. Because sometimes I expect perfection. It’s a gross disease. And often in my expectations, I’m quickly reminded how broken and imperfect I am. Because while I might never lose a TV (knock on wood), I’m often selfish, demanding, insistent that my way is the best way and my timing is the most important.
These are the moments when I turn into a fleshy, witchy monster who exists to exalt herself and reign terror on the household, including our gentle giants (especially when their hair is everywhere). The moments when I lose sight of this desire to be gentle and kind and patient and selfless and good. Moments where I’m on a mission to make myself heard, to be right, to win.
And in an instant, my husband’s words pierce through the darkness. They aren’t demanding. They’re just honest. “Debbie, I need you to see me. To love me. To be here, with me. I need to know that you think I’m worth something, even when I mess up. I need to know that I’m not the biggest disappointment of your life.”
These are the moments that are ugly, but real. Moments in marriage that are hard, but refining. Moments that break me and remind me to come back. To come back to what is better. To come back to the a place where I choose good, where I choose Jesus, where I choose selflessness, where I choose to love. These are the places where there’s no room for anonymity or hiding or running. The places where I must admit my flaws, my darkness and tell my husband that I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I want to do better. These are places where we are often the most humbled, most raw, most real.
My gracious, kind husband takes me into his arms.
And this is why marriage is beautiful: neither of us get to walk away. We just have to press in. We have to do better. We have to love more, live more selflessly, live more Christ-centered. He chooses to love me every day, even when my sin prevails and I have to continually do the same. Because this is not who we want to be. And we have to remember that our intentions for each other are not bad, but good.
His mercy is new every morning.
Let’s do better today.