I’ve been thinking.
Roles have switched these days.
A woman wants to step up to the plate.
A man wants to assume the role.
Sometimes the clothes switch.
Sometimes the responsibilities switch.
Sometimes the lines between the two become blurred.
And I’m not sure that every switch
is necessarily a bad thing.
A woman can provide.
A woman can protect.
A woman can lead.
And there is nothing wrong
with a man accepting help
from the woman he loves.
But somewhere along the way,
I began thinking about something else.
What does a man bring
to a marriage
that cannot simply be measured
by his paycheck,
his position,
or what he owns?
Perhaps it comes down
to three things.
Provider.
Protector.
Praiser.
A provider says,
“My family will not go without
while I have the strength to provide.”
Provision is not simply about money.
It is about responsibility.
It is about showing up.
It is about carrying your share
and knowing that the people you love
should be able to count on you.
A protector says,
“I will stand between my family
and what threatens their safety,
their dignity,
their peace.”
Protection is not control.
It is knowing when to stand,
when to speak,
when to defend,
and when to say,
“I’ve got you.”
But the third one
is the one we sometimes forget.
Praiser.
The man who does not feel smaller
because his woman is becoming greater.
The man who can sit among his friends
and say,
“That’s my wife.”
With a smile.
The man who sees her driving home
and says,
“Go, girl.
You can do this.”
The man who watches her return
with another achievement
and does not become jealous.
Instead, he asks,
“What can I do to help?”
When she succeeds,
“Go, girl.”
When she struggles,
“Keep going.”
When she doubts herself,
“I believe in you.”
And when she wins,
“That’s my wife.”
That is a man
who does not compete
with the woman he loves.
He cultivates her.
He encourages her.
He celebrates her.
He sings her praise.
A woman should not have to shrink
so that a man can feel tall.
And a man who is secure
does not need his woman
to become smaller
for him to feel like a man.
He can carry what he can carry.
She can carry what she can carry.
And when one of them gets tired,
the other steps in.
Maybe that is what partnership looks like.
Maybe strength
is not always about who carries more.
Maybe sometimes
strength is knowing
when to carry someone else.
Provider.
Protector.
Praiser.
Three Ps.
And perhaps
there is nothing weak
about a man
who can be all three.
SCRIPTURE
1 Timothy 5:8
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Ephesians 5:25
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Proverbs 31:28
“Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.”
By Joan Roberts
