I asked my dad why he treats my mom with so much reverence. I lived with them for 18yrs and I saw how he treated her.
Dad told me, "when you don't know how to receive and take care of a gift, you'll abuse or misuse it. For someone to genuinely love you, you have to do the same."

He believes that mutuality is critical to sustaining an authentic relationship. Giving to your spouse is important but receiving what they give is equally so. It signifies that the other person has worth and dignity in your eyes, which is at the heart of what love is about.

Why show reverence to someone you genuinely love (zero intention of demanding subservience from them)? According to him, "my own marriage was designed on the foundation of complementarity not superiority. Yourmom is a human being with her own mind not an appendage from my body."

Reverence begins in a deep
understanding of human limitations; from this grows the capacity to be in awe of whatever we believe lies outside our control: God, truth, justice, nature, health, love and relationship with another human(s), and even death.

The capacity for understanding and expressing genuine respect brings with it the capacity for respecting fellow human beings, flaws and all. Reverence remembers what it means to be human. Reverence is a virtue that keeps us from trying to take control of other people’s lives.

Every aspect of our human life gives occasion for reverence or the opportunity to express profound awe: for yourself, your talent, the deity you worship, family life, education, music, arts, culture, a birth & death, sex & marriage in the right form and extent.

Reverence is a virtue. Clearly a virtue is a capacity or admirable quality, cultivated by experience and mental training, to have attitudes and emotions that make you feel like doing good, being good and making others experience the goodness of your existence towards them.

You begin to think, feel and do good with respect not condescension or arrogance. Reverence is the capacity for an attitude or feeling that recognizes that there is more to a person than just being your spouse. Reverence will push you to learn more about your spouse's X Factor.

Together you and your spouse will be conscious of the fragility of your own lives and perhaps feel a sense of awe at the immensity of the reality that the other person has offered you a gift of genuine love. Reverence does not let us forget our common humanity.

Our place as a human being is at bottom no different from anyone else, vulnerable to error, fear, doubt, , failure but also love, truth, strength and achievement. An act of respect says that none of us is all knowing or all powerful that no one can play God and get away with it.

Reverence is an attitude that knows the limits of human knowledge, recognizes our differences even in a relationship or marriage, and never presumes to know everything about the other person.

Reverence is always open to
learning and recognizing the uniqueness in others.

Again, reverence is a virtue that keeps us from trying to take control of other people’s lives.

Reverence recognizes our uniqueness.

Reverence tells you that the other person has offered you a gift of love and you have a responsibility to honour and make good use of thr gift.

These days reverence seem like a forgotten virtue, but it still wants you to honour, love, respect, protect, encourage, work with and communicate empathetically with your spouse & other people.
Reverence creates room for otherness in self-sharing, learning, & expressing emotions.

With reverence you get to understand that your spouse is not less than you as a human. You will recognize the other person as a human being with their own mind. Reverence allows you set healthy boundaries. If we take on airs of superiority or know it all, we forget our humanity.

You cannot give what you don't have.

If you lack self-love, self-respect, discipline and a heart of gratitude, you will not love - respect - and appreciate what you get from the other person (spouse, friends, family members, community members, etc.).

Life na per head.

From me:

You can't change the mind of a person who is not WILLING and READY to change. Know when it's time to let go of anyone or anything that stops you from living a joyful life. Constant First aid and CPR to a disrepectful person will cause you more stress.

Life na per head