Marriage is a great thing, but husbands and wives need to give effort to make it great. While God's original design for marriage meant it was designed to be a perfect partnership, a husband and a wife need to give each other what is due in order for it to make it so.

In this article, we'll talk about one thing that's very important to each and every husband. And no, it's not the usual "respect" that many wives dread hearing about. This article is a letter to all of our dear wives about one thing that we value so much.

And so my dear sisters, here's one thing that all of us Christian husbands want from our dearly beloved wives: patience.

Patience?

Many husbands would agree that while we love our wives, we also long for them to be patient with us. While we strive to do our best to meet their needs, we also admit that we're not perfect and we'll fall short on some things at some times.

As husbands accountable to Christ, we strive to obey what Ephesians 5:25-28 tells us to do:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself."

We strive to obey Christ by doing that, but we can't deny the fact that we do struggle with our personal issues:

• Denying ourselves, especially our pride
• Learning to put our needs in second place so we can prioritize our wives and children
• Overcoming the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life

Our dearly beloved wives, while we truly love you and desire to lavish more of our love for you on a daily, moment-by-moment basis, we also have to fight more than just our own issues. Not only do we need to fight against sin, but we also fight for our provisions, the challenges we face as the leader of the home, and for the betterment of our marriages.

Dear ladies, what we need is a little more patience.

• A little more for when we fail in expressing love and affection
• A little more for when we fail in addressing important issues
• A little more for when we don't understand our wives' requests
• A little more for when we fail to give an ear when we're under pressure
• A little more for when we fail to speak the truth in a loving way

A partnership

Dear sisters, we believe that marriage is a God-ordained partnership and union between a man and his wife. We can't thank God enough for allowing us to partner with our wives.

All that we ask from our wives is some patience to help us in this walk of life in Christ.