Yep – men are born single – like a unicycle. So what are the features and upgrade options?
1st wheel (unicycle style)
base model: Unstable – goes fast, hard to control, often heads in wrong directions and topples over. Most owners eventually want to upgrade, adding another wheel.
2nd wheel (chariot/segway style)
wife option: Each wheel has its own erratic control mechanism – stable side-to-side, but still goes in wrong directions and topples over. Amazingly, many owners replace the 2nd wheel with different brands in hopes of improving driveability. Both wheels are almost irreparably damaged during replacement. Some owners try a cluster of 2nd wheels, but quickly discover the 2nd wheels explode upon introduction of other 2nd wheels.
3rd wheel (tricycle style)
Jesus option: Greater stability and directional control especially when the 2nd wheel is also synchronized with the 3rd wheel, but handling is still tricky – still capable of toppling over on hard turns such as when the 1st and 2nd wheels decide to go in their own directions.
4th wheel (quadcycle style)
emotional, physical, relational (quality time and mental engagement) commitment option: This is an option many owners fail to add, while others attempt to add the 4th wheel without the 3rd. The 4-wheel configuration sets master control of wheels 1-2 firmly with wheel 3, and brings a tight, dynamic response to all operating conditions. With this option, the owner abandons all rights to sell or trade, and is devoted on every level to the 3rd and 2nd wheels. In the worst maneuvering conditions, the owner focuses wheel 1's control system to yield to wheel 3 and works to protect and keep wheel 2 from all harm, and in synchronization with wheel 3. The owner establishes a regular maintenance schedule, to improve the ruggedness of links between all wheels, and increases performance of the communications channel.
What are some tips to make this special option work best?
- Drink water from your own well—share your love only with your wife. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth! May you always be captivated by her love.
- Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
- So husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church.
Some men have no clue of their emotional need for other-than-physical intimacy with their wife. Some men don't make their wife their very best, dearest, and closest friend. Some men would not be heartbroken if their wife suddenly died. It's not that they can't love their wife so deeply – it's that they don't know how and/or aren't willing to take the dive to commit that deeply to the relationship. And I think some men are afraid to get close, and to allow themselves to be hurt one day by the loss of such a deep relationship.
In the Old Testament, God told Joshua to "be strong and of good courage" as Joshua faced some things he feared. With God's help and encouragement (and example of self-abandoning love), us men can turn face on our own fears and recklessly pursue the complete depth of union with our wives, that God intended. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.'