Day #10- He Will Look for Similarities

            Growing up my Dad always said, “Jordan, behind every good man, is a great woman making him who he is!  Look for a woman like that, a woman like your mother.”   This advice is as true as any, the talents and abilities, the drive and ambition, the strength and the tenderness of a good man are all magnified by a great woman.   In order to further test this hypothesis and follow examples of the great men and women that are in the scriptures I have made a goal to read the Book of Mormon looking for the qualities of a good husband. 

As I was studying a came to an example that I think most of us can probably learn from.  In 1 Nephi chapter 5 Lehi and Sariah are in the wilderness waiting for their sons to return from their long trip to Jerusalem.  Worried about her son’s return Sariah begins to cry to Lehi:

 2 For she had supposed that we had perished in the wilderness; and she also had ^acomplained against my father, telling him that he was a ^bvisionary man; saying: Behold thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness.

With this cry there were several ways that Lehi could have responded.  He could have rebuked her for defying him, or criticized her for her wavering faith.  He may have questioned her love for him, or been offended by her lack of support.  He could have let the fires of contention overwhelm a situation that was brought upon by despair….

But instead he responded as follows:

 4 And it had come to pass that my father spake unto her, saying: I know that I am a ^avisionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a ^bvision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren.

 5 But behold, I have ^aobtained a ^bland of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I ^cknow that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness.

 6 And after this manner of language did my father, Lehi, ^acomfortmy mother, Sariah, concerning us, while we journeyed in the wilderness up to the land of Jerusalem, to obtain the record of the Jews.

The man She deserves should always be looking to comfort and to build his wife.  He should recognize that he is one with her in every way and therefore it does no good to him to tear her down.  He will look for similarities instead of divisions.