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In a family where traditional Christian values are in place, the leader of the home is the husband (father). It is often misunderstood that this position of leadership is in someway meant to glorify the man. This was not the intent as it was written in the Bible. The position of leadership was intended for families where the man was following God's example and encouraging his family to do so as well.

In our family we have entrusted the leadership to my husband. He's not perfect and he doesn't always follow God's word (though he does give it an honest effort), but someone has to have this job and I don't want it.

Five reasons (out of a million) why I'm happy to let my husband lead:

1. If someone breaks into our home in the middle of the night, I expect the leader to jump out of bed, tackle the intruder to the ground and beat the tar out of him. I'm not much of a fighter, but I'll be happy to call the police.

2. If there's a pipe leaking and someone is expected to crawl under our house and fix it, well, that's a job for the leader. No good leader would send his wife under the house. Instinctively he would understand that she may never let him touch her again should she happen to make it out alive.

3. Anyone can be responsible for setting a mouse trap, but it's the job of the leader to check it for critters.

4. When a telemarketer calls our house, we ask them hold for "our leader". We may sound pathetic to the caller, but we're off the hook. It's then up to my husband to deal with it (as he rolls his eyes in disgust).

5. If my car gets a flat tire, I'm allowed to sit in it and wait for my "leader" to show up and save me. I could probably figure out how to change it if I HAD to, but I don't. I think of it as a perk and my husband thinks of it as protecting me from being hit by a car. Win-win for both of us.

Five things (out of a billion) I do for my husband because I think he's a great leader:

1. I do his laundry. He never has to use the washer and dryer again (unless I kick the bucket). That thing where he sets the dryer to run for two hours kind of gets on my nerves, especially when our clothes shrink. So, I just do it for him. I'm happy to.

2. I clean our house. Yes, he did promise me long ago that he'd ALWAYS clean the toilets, but apparently he doesn't know how. Bless his heart.

3. I make his (our) bed every day. This probably shouldn't be on the list since he doesn't care if the bed is EVER made, but I'm leaving it on here anyway. It's not like I only make MY half of the bed.

4. I do all the cooking (unless the grill is involved). That day when he asked me, "How do I measure three quarts of water to make macaroni and cheese?", I decided that the kitchen was not his specialty. If he's going to be a good leader, he needs to eat well. I got this one covered.

5. I became a Dallas Cowboys fan. I was born and raised to be a Washington Redskin's fan, but I gave up my team in order to more fully support my husband. It's true that I've never really cared for football and so this wasn't exactly a major hardship, but I still did it.

No one wants to think of themselves or be seen as the lesser person in a marriage. The key is not getting hung up on titles. Just because one person is the leader doesn't make them more important. It makes those in his care more important because a TRUE leader would rather die than allow his family to be physically or morally injured.

Learn more about this author, Tina Pollard.
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