MarriedPeople Couples

My 11-year-old son just finished his first season of tackle football. One of the things he loved most was receiving helmet stickers. As a pregame ritual, players would receive small, skull stickers for “exceptional” plays they had made in the previous game. Each week, when he received one or two stickers, the look on his face was priceless. If you watch college football, you know that the use of stickers for motivation doesn’t stop even in high school. Many colleges still use them, e.g., Georgia Bulldog players get bone stickers. If you think about it, it seems a little silly that grown men playing arguably the most physically brutal sport ever created are still motivated by—stickers. Really? Truly? YES, ABSOLUTELY. And ladies, these thoughts on “why” hold a lot of relational truths for you as wives.

Here are three thoughts on “why”:
One: Helmet stickers are specific. Men like to know exactly what they have done well.

Two: Helmet stickers are visible. Men like to be recognized in front of others for what they have done well.

Three: Helmet stickers are honoring. Men like “important” people to acknowledge what they have done well.

Ladies, your husband’s need for “stickers” doesn’t stop in college. His heart still greatly desires to be specifically, visibly, honorably recognized—especially by YOU.
It’s why the Bible repeatedly tells wives to respect their husbands. Now, I know that many women don’t like the word respect. I believe the reason is that they have a warped, western view that respect somehow lowers them on the relational food chain. But as Webster’s says, it simply means, “to esteem a person, a personal quality or ability.” That’s it. He wants you to esteem his special qualities and abilities.
Oh, ladies, if you get this one right, it is one of the greatest ways in the world to draw him to you.  For all you ladies who figured this out a long time ago, what are the ways you give your husband “stickers”? (Check out tomorrow’s post for Part Two)