Showing Honor

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you  of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:7  I was reading in 1 Peter looking for a scripture to post on face book.  this scripture caught my eye. We husbands, and I am one, are to live with our wives in an understanding way, and to show honor to them as the weaker vessel. I changed my view on a lot of things over the years. At one time I use to refuse to drive my wife's car if she brought it home empty. Now I try to make sure I drive it enough to fill it with gas at least once a week. About the only time she puts gas in her own car is if I am gone on a road trip. Yesterday it was cold out, we were driving her car for that very reason, so we could put gas in it while we were out and about. As we pulled up to the gas station, she asked, do you want me to pump it. I looked at her, are you crazy? It is cold out there. I think she was teasing me, because just a few days earlier I had seen a car pull into Papa V's and immediately the woman got out of the car on the passengers side and went to the pump and started pumping gas. The man driving stayed in the car the whole time. He was younger than I. I wanted to go over there and speak to the man. There could have been a logical reason, a disability or perhaps he was even sick and it was necessary for this woman to get out and pump gas. I try to understand my wife, to know how she thinks. She does think differently than I do. She is much more liberal and I much more conservative in our thinking. I had to grow up at some point from the days when I refused to drive my first wife's car when she brought it home empty. If you really look for it the Bible will tell you how to live in every aspect of life. Most of the Bible is written to tell us how to live after we become a Christian. A much smaller portion of the Bible tells us how to come to a knowledge of God. As I try to understand her, she is much more affected by the cold weather than I am. I need to respect that  when it comes to the thermometer in our home. (the weaker vessel?) ( I hope she doesn't read that part). I fill her car with gas to honor her, Much of the time I still open her door and get her in the car before I do. Not always, sometimes I could be standing in the rain and cold for ten minutes waiting  for her  to come out of the house. But I really do try to show respect to her and honor her, and one of the visual ways is trying to make sure she doesn't have to put gas in the car.  I remember when I first started thinking this way, I had a neighbor at one address that lived across the street from me. He had a very narrow yard and really had only space for parking one car in front of his house. This neighbor parked in the spot in front of his house and his wife had to park further away or even across the street. It just seemed wrong to me, as it did when I saw that woman get out of the car and pump gas with a man still sitting in the drivers seat. Our relationship with our     spouses needs to be kept pure so that our prayers as husbands are not hindered when we talk to God. We need to respect our wives and honor them so that our prayers reach heaven. Much of the Bible tells us how to live after we become a Christian.  I am working on it. God bless, LVZ.