My husband, a pastor, is a pretty ordinary guy. Probably much like your husband, he has two legs, two arms and one head. He also breathes ordinary air, drives an ordinary car and lives in an ordinary house.
He has one extraordinary wife, but other than that, he's pretty average (ha!) His hair gets messy, his clothes get dirty, he showers, wears underpants and even uses the toilet! Sorry to be so blunt, but do you ever get the feeling some people don't see this about our husbands?
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He gets tired, sad and mad. He gets underestimated, undermined and even under the weather. He gets overwhelmed, overcome and overdrawn. He gets misunderstood, misinterpreted, misquoted and misrepresented. He has feelings and emotions. If you tickle him, he laughs. If you hurt him, he cries. Don't you sometimes want to scream at people and say, "Yes, folks. He's human! I know. I live with him! He is a man." And what's wrong with that? The only difference between him and other men is a calling. He is called of God into full-time ministry.
I sometimes feel that people are shocked to discover that my husband has limitations! They are stunned to find out that he has the same number of hours in his day that they do in theirs, or that he couldn't somehow fit more into his day than they do.
We know and accept his limitations. We're glad he's human. We even get to remind him of that every now and then, but we love him just like he is -- human and all! We are his helpmate; but even more than that, we are Mates in Ministry. We serve him as he serves the church. This is a very important role. I often feel we need more education to do our job than he does to do his!
Source: Parsonage.com
Stephanie Wolfe is a ministry wife at Calvary Christian Fellowship in Duluth, Ga. She is an international speaker at ladies retreats, conventions, marriage workshops and leadership conferences, a stand-up comedian and author of Mentoring Women. Additionally, she is the founder of a ministry for ministry wives called "Mates in Ministry."
