Man Up Monday - Smothering or Covering?

In today’s Man Up Monday discussion, I want to encourage you to examine your role as a “covering” for your bride and get you to answer an important question:

What kind of covering are you providing to your wife?

Part of the authority that God gives husbands comes in the form of providing spiritual, emotional, physical and material covering for their wives. But what does it mean for us to provide covering for our wives? Consider for a moment that the literal interpretation of the word often translated as “submit” in Ephesians 5 implies that a wife is “to arrange herself under” her husband. But think for a moment, what kind of covering are you inviting her to remain under?

For me it’s helpful to consider various coverings in the natural and whether or not these are fitting metaphors for the kind of covering I want to be for my wife. For example, in the area of garments, do I act more like a comfortable sweater, providing warmth and protection, or do I act more like a straightjacket by stifling, controlling and restricting her freedom?

Here’s just a quick list of some other types of covering, some desirable metaphors, some not so much so. Take a look at my list, then add your own with a comment below.

• Umbrella – provides shelter from the storms and protection from the elements of life
• Ground cover – some ground covers, like ivy, tend to invade everything and takeover, even where it doesn’t belong.
• Phone/camera cover – protects something of value that may be delicate and breakable, perhaps even irreplaceable.
• Mask/Makeup – Do you try to make your wife into something she was never made to be, as in covering with a mask? Or do you try simply to enhance and beautify her natural self, as in a tasteful application of makeup?
• Pool cover – keeps stuff out that doesn’t belong.
• Bible/book cover – closely protects something of value that you want to last but without restricting use or movement
• “I’ve got you covered” – does she know that you are watching out for her and that you have her protection, safety and wellbeing at heart?

There are dozens more kinds of covers that come to mind. Some of these we would want to emulate in the leadership of your marriage, others perhaps not. The important thing in this is to take seriously your role as a cover for your bride, to not neglect or run from this responsibility, but to execute it in a way that provides protection, refuge and comfort without stifling, controlling or interfering with your wife’s true nature and calling.

Can you think of other covering that would be a fitting metaphor for a husband’s role as a covering for his wife?