Give your husband lots of brownie points

Hubby and I were sitting at lunch with the senior pastor and his wife today, talking about marriage and a video on marriage they were watching.

We laughed about how wives give husbands brownie points for doing the things we ask them to do. Or for surprising us with little things or doing an unasked household chore. And they are doled out one at a time. "Thank you for giving the kids a bath, honey. You earned a brownie point."

Husbands don't generally give wives brownie points. Back to the truth that they are simple and uncomplicated. They love all the things we love, they are just less intricate about it.

Dinner? We want a nice sit down meal with the food in bowls in the table. They want something hot and a paper plate that won't collapse when they load it up.

Back to brownie points. When a husband does something undesirable, or forgets an important date or event, he loses those precious brownie points in droves! "Didn't you remember to pick up the clothes from the dry cleaner. Minus a bazillion brownie points."

He's in the hole for eternity now. Why bother with the favorable acts only get one point at a time.

As we laughed about this, trying to understand why wives give points at all, I said, "I don't remember how many brownie points Hubby has, but one time he did something nice for me and I gave him 1500 points on the spot. When he did something "bad" he only lost one."

Pastor was impressed. I said, "Well, Jesus finds all kinds of ways to give us credit where we don't deserve it. I figure I can do no less."

Jesus said if you give someone a cup of cold water you won't lose your reward. How generous is He? As if the Cross alone doesn't tell me.

How can I be stingy with honoring and esteeming others? And honestly, I'd like the same treatment shown to me. Mercy! Generosity. Honor!

What about you? Do you honor? Are you generous with giving brownie points and stingy when taking them away. Or generous with deleting them from your spouses account and stingy when rewarding?

Let's not be like that beloved! Give. Rejoice. Honor. God will make sure you do not lose out. It's not in His nature to be stingy and if we are in His image, it should not be in ours.

Give some brownie points today!