What does the word “husband” mean? We have the related English word “husbandry,” that is, cultivation. And when the word “husband” is used as a verb, it means to cultivate. If you are a husband, here is your job: to cultivate and nurture your wife. Your lifetime impact on your wife should be that her life opens up more and more, and she is enabled to become all that God wants her to be. God is calling you, as her husband, so to care for her that in her latter years she will be thinking, ‘What a great life I’ve had! My husband understood me. He cared for me. He inspired me to grow in Christ.’ How does a husband do that? Not by browbeating his wife – God doesn’t treat us that way – but by encouraging her. It’s here in Proverbs 31:28, ‘Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.” …A husband cultivates his wife by setting a high tone or praise in their home. No putdowns. No fault-finding. No insults. Not even neutral silence. But rather bright, positive, life-giving praise.

– Ray Ortlund