Over one simple week our home life has made quite a shift. From one day being fairly well oiled, to the next day screeching and grinding as if it'd been in poor weather for too long. The fact of the matter is that a dynamic changed and we were all given a new position and responsibility.
I know Matthew has born much of the burden. He is up caring for the children until that day's help arrives, then he's off to his duties as a PA. After that he's off to do all sorts of unfamiliar (or less familiar) tasks: getting groceries, running errands, etc. Then he returns home to again don the hat of homemaker. I know he is weary, just as I am weary from being laid up. But I am slowly growing more thankful for the things he does and the way he does them. His methods are certainly a contrast to mine, but the Lord is giving me new eyes and a fresh heart with which to see and be thankul for my husband.
1. He is an ceaseless giver. Even in the midst of extra duties and the affairs of his family to focus on, he has been willing to make himself available to serve others.
2. He is long-sufferring and a storehouse of love. How often he is taken to task by his children (for everyone is reacting differently to the change in homelife), and yet he is filled with an unending desire to hear them laugh, to make them smile, to feel their little arms around his neck and to wrap his strong arms about them, to tell them he loves them, to read from God's word in order to train them.
3. Dishes and clean counters can always be done later. In this case I would be busily cleaning up after a meal, whereas Matthew's attention turns toward having personal time with his family (both me and the children). The dishes cannot feel love and they usually remain unchanged. Our little ones, on the other hand, will not remain little for long.
4. He tells me I'm beautiful, and his eyes don't lie. For anybody who has spent long periods on bedrest or with illness, you know that it would be miraculous if you looked better than you felt. Rumpled hair, dark circles under the eyes, 24-hour morning breath, etc. are common issues. Yet for my hubby, he can see under all the rumples and wrinkles and bags and circles and love me. I can see in his eyes that there is no deceit, his love for me does not fade.
So to my Matthew, I say this - You are my hero. I thank the Lord for you, a precious and unequalled gift in my life. You are to me the shoulders and arms of Christ when I struggle to feel His presence. And you are the tender eyes and loving smile of my Savior when I sense His presence in my heart. I am thankful for your love and for the chance that I may love you as well.
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