Respecting Your Wife's Body

I have been to several marriage seminars and one of the common themes is the need for men to respect their wife and to respect their wife's body. Even some of the comments to my blog postings has stirred questions about respect. I believe it is important for husbands to respect their wife's body.

I looked up several definitions of "Respect" and most of them define it is giving attention, consideration and high esteem to some person or thing. And the word "esteem" is defined as assigning value, worth and admiration. So when you put together those definitions you come up with 5 basic components of respect:

1. Giving Attention
2. Giving Consideration
3. Assigning High Value
4. Assigning Worth
5. Admiration

First, we give our attention to the things that we respect. The more we respect something, the more we pay attention to it. Paying attention to my wife's body is part of how I show respect. The second way I show respect to my wife is by thinking about her body. The word "consideration" means careful thought or taking into account. A husband can show respect to his wife by carefully thinking about her body and making plans that take's her body into account.

Third, respect is demonstrated by holding your wife's body in "high esteem". I value my wife's body as more important than my own. I often do the more dangerous chores around the house to protect my wife from the risk of bodily injury. My wife's body is worth more to me than the chores or work that she can do around the house. I probably assign a higher value and worth to my wife's body than she does. Last of all, I admire my wife's body. I enjoy and admire each and every part of my wife's body. When a husband admires his wife's body, he is showing respect to her body.

Unfortunately, the word "respect" has little meaning in the world today and many women use the word without understanding what it means. I believe it is time for men to stand up and to show respect to their wife's body and to teach people what it means to respect. It is good to give attention to your wife's body, to think about it (consideration), to value her body and assign it great worth. It is respectful to admire her body. Husbands should respect their wife's body in public, which includes paying attention to her and admiring her while they are out in public. Perhaps husbands should think and plan (show consideration) how they can admire her body in public.