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Adrian!

By Lisa Lakey

Since I was a kid, I’ve loved the Rocky movies. Recently, my husband and I watched the original, for probably the first time in 10 years. (Can you hear the theme song?) But this time, I noticed something I didn’t as a kid.

Rocky is a great love story.

Rocky pursues and then coaxes the shy Adrian out of her shell. 

She believes in him like no one else, and even buys him a dog to run with him while training. 

And then, coming off the biggest fight of his life, bloodied and bruised, who does he call for? Adrian! And she pushes through the crowd to get to him.

She’s his person. And he’s hers.

While I’m not condoning sending your love into a boxing ring to pursue a similar love story, it made me think … Am I my husband’s person?

Am I actively seeking to support his endeavors, lighten his load, be his No. 1 fan? If I can’t think of any specific actions to back this up, then probably not.

In Genesis 2, God declared it was not good for man to be alone. He needed a helper. When God created Eve and brought her to Adam, he responded, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh …” (verse 23). 

And when she’d messed up tragically, the gravity of her failure dawning on her, death now entering the planet? Adam gives her a name of hope: Eve, the mother of all living. In essence, Eve was created to be Adam’s person, and vice versa.

So how can I be my husband’s person? I cheer him on in big things and small. Way to go on landing that big job at work! I use my own gifts to help him. Need someone to proof that email or jazz up the resume? I’m your girl.  

And I work to listen to him without judgment or impatience and believe in him like no one else. When life (or work, or parenting) has him feeling beaten and bruised, I come running through the crowd to his side.

I want him to know, win or lose, I’m always in his corner.

Action points: Ask your spouse how you can better be their “person.” What encourages them? What is something you can do daily or weekly to help bear their burdens?