Husbands, let’s rise to these challenges and love our wives well! Your marriage not only impacts your wife but your children and future generations. By how you love your wife, you are teaching your sons how to treat women and you are teaching your daughters what they should expect from men. Let’s commit to giving our wives and families our very best! 

This is not a comprehensive list, but here are five things most women desire and deserve from their husbands (in no particular order)… 

1. Open, honest, consistent communication 

Communication does for a marriage what breathing does for your lungs. Be willing to turn off ESPN and put your iPhone down and engage in meaningful conversation. Most women have a need for communication in marriage that is every bit as strong as the typical man’s need for sex. Make communication a priority. Never hide anything from her! Build a foundation of trust, honesty, and open communication. Every one of your words and every action is either building more of her trust or eroding her trust in you. Remove distractions and make communication a high priority. It will make her feel secure, connected, loved, and respected. 

#2 is something she might never ask for specifically, but she desires it daily… 

2. Protection (Physical, emotional and financial protection) 

You should be the one who wipes away your wife’s tears; not the one who causes them! Develop the discipline to work hard inside and outside the home to make your wife feel like the safest and most secure woman on earth. She should never feel safer than she feels when she is with you. Have the courage to fight for your family and the faith to recognize that you will often need a power greater than your own. The Bible challenges us by saying…“Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” (Nehemiah 4:14) 

#3 is one of the primary ways she’s likely to measure your commitment to her… 

3. Your time (Both “quality time” and “quantity time”) 

Time is the “currency” of relationships, so invest as much time as you can into your marriage. Never make her feel like you love your career or hobbies more than you love her. That other stuff can’t love you back! You need to make money, but don’t use your career as an excuse to be absent. When you are home, be present, not distracted or glued to a screen. Work hard, but also remember that your family can do with less of almost anything if it means having more of you. 

#4 is something every wife needs, but most husbands aren’t giving… 

4. Continuous pursuit 

For most of us, we gave our wives the best we had in the very beginning, but just like a cable TV company that offers their best package, pricing, and service at the beginning and then changes all the rules after the “promotional period” expires, many of us have stopped giving our wives the best of ourselves. We’ve allowed romance to fade. She needs to feel loved and adored by you and she’ll feel most loved when she feels most pursued. Our wives need and deserve our continued adoration, thoughtfulness, and love. Give her your very best each and every day! 

#5 might be the most important one on the list… 

5. Put her first 

NEVER make her feel like she has to compete with anything or anyone else for your love. Never make her feel like you have an exit strategy. Have eyes only for her. Treat her like a priority; not like an interruption. Give her your best; not your leftovers. She needs and deserves your very best. When you give her your best, it will bring out the best in your both and the best in your marriage!