If you are a Christian who is asking yourself "why do I respect you, but not my wife or daughter?" you may be wondering why you should respect those who do not share your beliefs. I've seen it myself from time to time when I was a very young girl growing up in Southern California and I also had many friends that were different than I am and some of them did not respect me for who I was.
A loving example would be my mom always being respectful behavior with her family members, but being completely rude to others. She would never say sorry for her bad behaviors or offer an apology or offer to try and change her bad behaviors. She just was disrespectful and unloving. I have tried to model the same behaviors myself, but I found that I had more trouble with my own children than I did with my ex-wife.
How does one go about getting their spouse or children to respect them? I think one way to start doing this would be to offer to help them out whenever they need it. Sometimes that's enough to help them start acting respectfully toward others, but sometimes it can take much longer to get their respect and love. So I would ask them if they were feeling down or lonely. I would try to help make their day and I would let them know that they were appreciated, but in doing so I would give them something to look forward to every day.
When I went to work as a nurse, I learned to respect my patients as much as I respected myself. Even if my patient came to the hospital with a broken bone, I still would show respect to him or her. This meant that I would sit quietly by and not make a scene while my patient was there. If my patient was in pain, I would talk to him or her and make sure they were comfortable. I would give them my best smile and listen to their concerns.
If someone called me at work to ask about my day and whether I was feeling well, I would say, "Thank you for asking, but I can't make a big deal out of it, but I respect your concern. I hope everything is going fine." When I returned home to my family I was respectful. My mother would come home and sit down and hold my hand as we talked. I respected her wishes over again.
I remember a time when I was at church. I was standing up in front of the entire congregation and saying prayers. I was in front of all of them and not sitting down in the back. As I was talking to them I would try to be respectful with all of them and do what they wanted me to do.
I remember when I was asked about my accomplishments, I would tell them that I was honored for all they asked of me and that I was grateful for the blessings God has given me. I would always add that I hoped everyone could grow spiritually and learn to respect each other. If I told a group of women, I would try to be as respectful as I could.
I'm not trying to say that my life was perfect when I was a Christian, but I would make it clear that I respected them when I was asked about theirs. After a month, I noticed that my wife was starting to get offended. She would call me and tell me that I was disrespectful and that they needed to get to know me better. Now it would happen once in a while, but it was enough to make me wonder how I was going to survive in the ministry of the Lord if I did not do this.
