5 Reasons to Write Your Wife a Love Letter

Men, I have been writing my wife a weekly love letter for more than a year. That’s not a sentence I would have ever expected to write about myself. I am not a man of outward sentimentality, and I very rarely make my emotions known. Most people would call me calm and hard to read.

But, men, what I learned is this: as good as it can be for me to remain solid and calm in the storms of life, my wife needs something more. My wife needs to be loved, and she wants to be romanced. I learned after a year of marriage that it wasn’t enough to just show up, and I couldn’t stop with just providing a paycheck. I needed to do more to show my wife how much I love her.

And I don’t think I am alone. I bet that your wives also want to be loved and hear from your heart. They want to know just how deeply you love them.

I am not going to push you all to start writing a weekly blog to your wife. Instead, I want to encourage you to start small. All I want you to do is this: I want you to write a short, handwritten letter to your wife today, right now. Think of one thing about her or one thing she does that makes you thankful to have married her. Write it down and give her that note. Let her know you love and appreciate her.

In case you aren’t already convinced about writing that love note, let me offer you
Five Reasons why you should be writing love notes to your wife.

1) You will fan the flames of love in your marriage.

Gary Chapman famously explained the concept of LoveLanguages, and the first language he describes in book is Words of Affirmation. For many women, they feel most loved when they are spoken to kindly, when they are praised, and when they are otherwise wooed with your words. Your wife will know she is loved when she reads that short note from you.

Go ahead and write a short love note now. Just put down two sentences about one thing you like about your wife. Now leave the note on your wife’s bedside table. Just trust me on this one.

2) The smartest man in the world gave his wife love notes.

....READ THE REST OF THIS POST 

AT THE NEW MANTURITY.COM

CLICK HERE!

3 Reasons Why Every Christian Man Should Write

Are you ready?

HONESTY.

There I said it. Let's be honest gentlemen and start things out in the seat of your local church. You know, the one you try to sit in every week. Maybe you are sitting there alone, maybe your arm is around your wife. Either way you are sitting there, listening to the pastor preach the message. This is where honesty comes in. 

What are you doing sitting there? Daydreaming? Thinking about the big game later that day? These are very valid questions. The other question is, what is in your hands or what is your wife doing next to you? Writing?

Let me ask another question, "how good is your memory?" Why does this matter? Well, if you really think about it, how much of the message actually makes it into your heart? How much you are paying attention to, is how much you are getting out of it. What do you do next? You grab a pen, a paper and start to write or in other words take notes. Why?

THINK.

I don't know about you but my memory is just not that good. It is a well known fact that my wife's memory is head over heals better then mine. I feel like I woke up one morning around the age of six... Anyway. Men, we are not good enough to remember everything that is being preached. This is an average of course. Simple reviews through my own eyes, at my own church have proven this point. Judgments? No, truth.

What is the main topic in the message on Sunday? Write it down. What are some of the questions the Pastor or speaker is asking and answering? Write those down too. What quick one liners could you pick up for your social media updates in the coming week? You guessed it, write it down.

You might be thinking, "this sounds too hard or too involved." That's right men, this is called a challenge. A call. A (insert Braveheart cry here). We must challenge ourselves in our walk with God. Why? Think about the disciples. On numerous occasions, Jesus would challenge these men and make them THINK. Did they always get it? Did they always want to do it? The answer is no, but they overcame the doubt and were Jesus' right hand men. Who are we? We are Jesus' right hand men NOW. And it's time we started acting like it.

KNOWLEDGE.

Let's be honest. No, better yet, lets think about this for a minute. What will all of this extra work give us? What will writing down notes in the sermon actually do for me? Glad you asked. 

Writing down sermon notes at Church will increase your knowledge and understanding like never before. Don't believe me? Try it. Your mind won't be able to focus on the big game, your eyes won't wander to the well dressed woman in front of you. You will be focused. You will be engaged. And you will be putting the information into your heart. You will become a better, no, stronger disciple for Christ. Do I still have your attention? 

Good.

Because here is the ultimate test: 
Here is your challenge. I asked you at the beginning if you were ready.
This is your week. Yes, I repeat that this is your week! What do I mean? This is your week to write the weekly devotional for the entire congregation. What? Trust me, I am not crazy. (for the most part). Yes, write the summary, the main idea, the main theme. In words better understood, give us the instant replay.

If you took the challenge or have a thought on this topic. 
Share your replay in the comments below. 
Be Strong! Have Faith!
______________________________________________

Check out 3 Reasons Why Every Man Should Write via @Manturity  > Tweet This!

Why do you think Men should write? Read more via @Manturity  > Tweet This!

Do you have 5 minutes? (at least)

Tired of hearing about New Years resolutions yet? Fortunately, I have not had to hear about too many this year. I see the occasional status update from people going to the gym; that I know didn't normally go last year. I see it and keep scrolling.

One thing I thought about when reviewing last year was this though, "how much time do I really spend with God"? Ask my wife, my memory is not the greatest. But, overall I am still capable of going back and really thinking about my time with God.

• Sometimes in the car

• Sometimes early in the morning when I am laying in bed

• Maybe right before I walk into the house after a long day of work

I like to think I'm your typical man. I do my best to work hard. I diligently think about ways to love and support my wife. I have to handle earfuls of useless conversation at work sometimes. And I have to keep my home moving in a somewhat orderly fashion. Can you agree with this men?

In short, the idea of 5 minutes (at least) came to my mind. 5 minutes? I thought to myself, "I can surely come up with 5 minutes a day for God". Then I thought, have I even spent 5 minutes with Him over the last week? Gut check, better yet heart check. All this technology to set up reminders and stuff should make this process easier, right? "Ok, 5 minutes. Dear God... Oh look, there are new stories on my social network." Ouch.

My goal is 5 minutes (at least). Do you think this should be your goal too? Put it on your schedule with me and give it a shot. I can pray, read a devotional or just have a general heart to heart talk with God (this could be prayer too). If this sounds crazy to you or if this sounds like a good idea, share what you think about it. Share what has worked with you in the past.

7:14 Movement

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, 

and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

-2 Chronicles 7:14

January 6-12 is a week of prayer. The 7:14 movement is an national movement to make prayer more intentional and more widespread. The verse in Chronicles is very direct in it's words and should be a challenge to everyone. Our Church is pushing this movement, and I pray that you do as well with your Church and family. The idea of 7:14 is simple. We all have busy schedules and on average have a hard time making "time" for God. At 7:14 AM, we stop and say a small prayer. At 7:14 PM, we stop what we are doing and say another small prayer. There are set prayers available if needed, and you can download the file HERE. Or if you choose, pick a topic that you can focus and pray on for a few moments. This is nothing earth shattering or difficult. If you think it's cliche, I suggest you read the verse above again. I plan to do this on my own and with my family and hope you do the same. Check out some links below to assist in the process and to make the impact go farther in your life. Please share this with others and have a great week of Prayer!

Download the free iPhone app HERE or go on your iPhone iTunes app and download.

Purchase the "28 Day Journal" HERE. Available as an eBook or Regular Book.

The Priority Challenge!

A big part of spiritual maturity is consistency and consistency requires discipline. Recently I have run into some brothers in Christ that have been struggling. By struggling, I mean they just can't get their thoughts straight and are lacking discipline in their daily walk. The issues can stem from current situations, past struggles, or the daily events of their world getting in the way. At first, I didn't know how to approach this issue. What do they mean they don't have time to focus on God? How can they be so consistent in worldly things, but have no time or interest in the things from the Father? I prayed about it for awhile and thought back to the time I was struggling with my thoughts and so much more. Then I remembered my TOP TEN list. This was a list I developed over the course of a few months on my path to spiritual maturity. I made it because my priorities in life were not in order. To be honest, I probably could not have even named off ten items at the time. I was buried in a deep hole of depression and past struggle and I knew I needed a change.

This is not a post to make you comment or reflect on something. This is a post to challenge you! It comes down to a simple question that demands answers "What are your top ten priorities in life?" Simple right? I know you can probably think of a couple to get you started, but don't take the easy route with this one. Don't fake your answers. Don't fluff up your answers and write what should be your priorities; get real with yourself and be honest. These things are most likely what you think about most in the day. These are things that must be very important to you. Part of the challenge is that you have to write the answers down! Once you have your Top Ten list established, than come up with your "why" for each point. Why are these things important to you? Why do they take up so much time in your life? The beauty of this process is honesty. The list will show you who you are in the background and what the result is when people see or encounter you.

Once you have the list and you have your reasons. Share them with somebody. Tell the person about the list and just have them listen to you. No commentary. No strange looks. No opinions. This is a crucial part of the process. This part will make you formulate the ideas into words. You will most likely say more than what you wrote down. This could be the part of the process where you can finally understand why it's so important or you can realize how futile it really is. You'll find things of importance bundling up. Relationships? Goals? Struggles? After the process is through; you'll have learned quite a bit about yourself. You'll know where you need to make changes or you'll know what's right where it is suppose to be. Clarity. You'll see if your life is reflecting the life God intended for you or if you're living for yourself. 

-THE CHALLENGE-

List your Top Ten priorities in life.

Write down the details of why they are a priority.

Share them with someone.

Make necessary changes or Stay put. You'll know.

If you do the challenge. Come back and share your thoughts 

or just share your thoughts on the idea.

don't have time? Priorities...

MM: The Type of Man

What type of man needs to be a Maintenance Man? Anyone? Every man!

No man is ever finished being worked on. No man is ever finished learning new things. Each day is a new opportunity to learn, grow, fail and succeed and so on. We all know this and are aware of this, but how do we take all of those examples and truly learn from them? How do we use these daily things to help us mature and move on? If you haven't been successful in learning from these daily things, than maybe you need to approach life a different way. Maybe instead of trying to tackle these issues by yourself you consider asking for help. You consider finding a way to keep track of some of these things and find a way maintain your knowledge.

A man has to be WILLING. 'Psalm 119:36'

From my personal experience, the most freeing decision I have made is giving my life over to Christ. Doing that allowed me to take the focus off of myself. When the focus is "clearly" on yourself, it is so difficult to see what is going on around you. You have a harder time considering other people's decisions, situations and feelings. There is a simple term for this sickness and it's called selfishness. Selfishness can become a black hole for men. I didn't realize how it was affecting me, until I snapped out of it. Things seemed to get so clear all of a sudden. I was finally willing to give Christ the time He deserved; the time He wanted me to give Him for so long. There was no question, I was willing.

A man has to be OPEN. 'Ezekiel 36:26'
Following Christ for real, for the first time, meant new things. It meant meeting new people, exploring new ideas, changing habits, finding desire and just plain talking to Christ more. A man that finally takes the leap of faith or the man that has had the faith for a while has to stay open to what Christ is doing or may have planned for you. As a new Christian, I knew there would be things that I had never experienced before, but I knew in my heart that I had to keep climbing. A man that has been a Christian for years must still be open to new ideas. He must not get stagnant with his ideas, beliefs and values. He must learn to be open and maintain that trait.

A man must learn DEPENDENCY. 'Exodus 15:2-3'
Being willing has broken your selfishness, being open has helped you adjust to new practices, but a man must learn that giving his life to Christ means a new dependency. It is no longer "me", but Christ in me. It is He who gives me my money, and it is He who makes my path straight, and it is He who provides a way out of temptations, and it is He who died for me. There is no shame, no weakness in being dependent on Christ. For me, it has been one of the strongest moves I have ever made in my life. It made me realize that my dependency on other people gave me no strength compared to Christ's strength.

Maintain. Sustain. Guard. Keep On. Nurture. Manage. Preserve. Save. Retain. Repair. Renew.

Some say it is easier to maintain a bad behavior than it is a good behavior. I say, give me their names and let me meet them. I say, don't let what others say dominate your opinion. I say, go to the sources, go to Christ and ask Him how to maintain. Ask Him how to be a man. And you know what, He will show you. He will give you all the tools you need....

Challenge yourself to be a Maintenance Man for Christ! 

Share some ways on how you maintain your walk!