A great valentine's gift for your husband!

Men love respect and admiration. It's how their wired. Which is why scripture tells wives to respect their husbands. (Ephesians 5:33)  I had written notes to my husband telling him how much I love and respect him but on this occasion I wanted to do something a little different.

In Galatians 5:22-23 it talks about the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. My husbands displays each and everyone of those and not just with me but with everyone he knows. So I emailed 8 of his guy friends, assigned a fruit of the spirit to each one and asked them to write hubby sharing how he has displayed that in his life and in their friendship. I wrote the one on love. :) I had them email them back to me and I printed each one out.

I want to share with you what some of his friends wrote.

Kindness-  "Kindness has always been an attitude for you, not situational. Thank you for our friendship"

Joy- "It's 98 degrees and a camper is trying to ride on your back as you carry your guitar down to the lake. Hurry and set it aside and wolf down that hot dog and help set up for the shaving cream slide. Now get the band together and hammer off four worship songs, two fast and two slow and oh yeah, can you do your testimony tonight too? Now don't sit down because you've got to beat the campers up the hill and get t.p. open. You did restock after the afternoon rush, right? Oh, and when you finish come back by the office cause we have to plan out day for tomorrow. Oh and bring me a reese's and coke. That was a typical day at Frontier Camp for you summer after summer. You exhibited joy throughout. So much so that when faced with becoming the Director and needing an assistant that I loved to work with and could show joy on a tough day of ministry, I thought of you. Thanks for bringing joy into my life and others that you come in contact with."

Gentleness- "You have done a great job at treating her (me, his wife) as Christ treated the church. You have not dominated her or lorded over her in her walk and as a wife. I keep praying that God will give you gentleness upon gentleness as you tackle the years of marriage to come. I love you buddy"

Goodness- "Through the way you live your life, I have chosen you to be my life's "Advisory Board". Goodness and virtue is something that definitely defines you. Your ethical principals and moral conduct are evident and the fruit of those choices is evident in your life. As a friend, you've accepted the good, the bad, and the ugly about me, but also encouraged me to consider and pursue the path that Christ has chosen for us. Many people offer godly advice, but few lead a life that backs if up the way yours does."

Peace- " No matter what has been thrown at you, you have remained consistent in your reliance on God. Peace is in your face my friend, a quality that Monica was attracted to from the very beginning, a quality that makes you an amazing friend, and one whom I cherish with all my heart. Love you man."

Self-control- "You don't let your emotions determine the decisions that you make. The statement "What you do when no one is looking" defines your character. I know when you have been tempted to do the wrong thing  and no one is around you did the right thing. The self-control that I have observed could only be exhibited by a person who knows the Lord."

Faithfulness- "Truly you are a man that helps define this very word for me. I value our friendship more than this letter can express and more than I personally tell you on a daily basis. Thanks for always being such a faithful friend to me. Your friendship is one I will treasure forever. I love ya!"

Patience- "You are one of the most patient people I know. I watched you wait patiently on the Lord until he brought you your beautiful wife. You are a man that truly exhibits this character trait. I am blessed to know you and call you friend."

I printed these out put them in envelopes and hid them at different places in town. Hubby had to go on a little scavenger hunt to find each one. Words can't describe the value of these letters. I watched him tear up as he read these encouraging words from some of his closest friends. This gift was priceless to him. So much so that they stay in our fire proof safe. If anyone does this for their spouse for valentines day let me know how it turns out!!

A special thank you to Traci for making a blog button for the Pillow Talk series! You can grab it on the left sidebar.