This morning, as I get ready to head out to sub for our local Christian school, I am thinking about the last few days that have been quite a blur for me. I have had sickness and death in my family within the same week. While I sat with my grandfather in the ER on Wednesday night, my grandmother was at the funeral home, visiting with her only remaining sister, while viewing the body of their baby sister that past away last Sunday. I couldn't help but think at that moment how fragile life is. I was overwhelmingly thankful for not just my grandparents that night, but for my own family. My husband and my children. Life is so short. My grand daddy was able to go home that night, but still feeble and weak. As we went to the funeral yesterday for my great aunt, I listened to my 75 year old grandmother and two of her lifelong friends relive times from their childhood. I wish you could have heard them, talking about things that happened 65-70 years ago like it was just yesterday. My grandmother was so weary from the heartache of losing a sister, and from the worry of her husbands health, yet when she remembered the old days, she smiled despite the tear in her eye. I sat there thinking of my own childhood, and of my children. One day, if the Lord allows me to live that long, I too will think of days long past with a joyful ache.
With the busyness of the last few days, I have missed a lot of time with my own family as I helped with the things going on in my life around me outside of my home. I have also missed my church family and haven't been there for them this past week,(even having cellphone issues has added to the lack of communication!) and for that I feel badly. Even so I have not neglected to lift them all up in daily prayer. It is very fresh and clear on my mind that time is fleeting. I have so many duties and obligations, but aside from God, my dear family is my first and top priority. I love them so much and want to be the best mother, and the best wife that I can be. God has been so good to me. I am blessed beyond measure and my cup is running over at this point. I just want to thank Him today for my precious home and all that dwell in it!
I want to leave you today with a poem that is not my own, but sounds as if it was written from my own heart. I guess this must be how every preachers wife feels!
"I Am the Preacher's Wife
by Diane Pellin
I am the woman who proudly sits in the shadows as her husband stands in the light. I am the one who knows her husband is a gift from God, and so I give him back to my Lord through his full-time service. Often times, I am so lonely for him because I share him with others.
But I am also pleased that he gives of himself so unselfishly. I am the one who encourages the preacher when others sometimes fail to. I am the one who listens to his dreams for the church and helps him look into the future and see his dreams become a reality.
And when others wonder if he really cares, I am the one who sees him on his knees, shedding tears for the future of the Lord's church."
