In Love With Real

My husband is real. He is. I have a real husband who is human, imperfect, challenging, adventurous, crazy and amazing.

We live a real life together.

Ann Voskamp wrote an incredibly smart and true post on this real husband topic.

A post that women in this “Shades of Grey” and “boy band” culture need to read.

The Real Truth about ‘Boring’ Men

I saw this post come across facebook and I immediately agreed with Ann even before I read her post.

You see, I married one of the so called ‘boring’ men she wrote about.

I know.

Nothing about Jeremy is actually boring. In fact, he is the complete opposite of boring in nearly every way. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you know that I married a fireball of life.

He is energetic, interesting, fun, and slightly crazy.

But, he is real.

He is a real man who loves real, lives real and gives real.

In her post, Ann is writing to her boys.

She says, “The real romantics imagine greying and sagging and wrinkling as the deepening of something sacred. Because get this, kids — How a man proposes isn’t what makes him romantic. It’s how a man purposes to lay down his life that makes him romantic.”

Then, Ann says, “I’m praying, boys — be Men. Be one of the ‘boring” men – and let your heart be bore into. And know there are women who love that kind of man.

The kind of man whose romance isn’t flashy – because love is gritty.
The kind of man whose romance isn’t about cameras — because it’s about Christ.
The kind of man whose romance doesn’t have to go viral — because it’s going eternal.”

So, I’m writing this to my girls.

Girls, love that kind of man.

Love someone like Daddy who is real. A man who is on the ‘boring’ side of love that Ann writes about.

Not a flashy, hot guy who thinks he belongs in the next hit movie.

Not someone who cares about looks and age and the outside package.

Not someone who needs you to be anything other than who God has made you and is creating you to be.

Love someone who works hard, loves hard, and breathes reality.

Oh, he can be cute… because Daddy is really cute.

Yes, a Mommy still thinks her man is cute.

But, he must be solid and strong and fully real.

Hands down, the realness of a man who loves you, loves God and daily loves to grow old with you will outweigh the other fluff every single moment of your married life.

Someone who will cry with you, laugh with you, spend Friday nights at home with you, build a life with you, challenge you and love you through annoyances, disagreements and frustrations that come with being real and living real life.

That is the real husband you want.

You want the man who will love you in your perfect size 6 wedding dress and who will still love you in your size XL men’s sweatpants you throw on as maternity day wear.

You want the man who will grin at you and tell you how cute you are when you feel positively greasy.

You want the man who hugs you in the kitchen and and snuggles with you as you watch your favorite movie for the 100th time.

A man whose very heart is at home with you.

A real husband

A man who will safely carry your heart through your tomorrows.

A real man… not some made up character from a book. Not some hot shot cutie you met at the mall.

A real, godly, living, breathing man.

Love is gritty, as Ann writes to her boys.

It is gritty because real men make mistakes… they fail and they are not perfect.

But a real man excepts grace, gives grace and finds true grace within his God-given marriage with you.

So, sweet Goodwin girls… when you choose to change your name from Goodwin to the name some man wants to give you…

Let his name be real.

Let his character be worth changing your name for…

Fall in love with real.

Another post you might need to read… Reasons I Love Him That Might Surprise You

Save