10 days without a wife.

I am fair sized, maybe past my prime, but hopefully not too far over the hill. My mind can still remember most things. She is small, and growing smaller, frail and can not remember things. The two of us have been together for a number of years now. She is my mother-in-law.

Her daughter, the one I married, is off visiting one of our daughters, playing the role of grandmother to their two young daughters.

First, I am very pleased that my wife can make this visit. A friend of hers who was driving to Virginia wanted a passenger.

Secondly, while the above is true, this visit has give me an opportunity to care for my mother-in-law. While physically healthy she is frail, her mind can not retain current events or even much of the past. While she might remember past accommodation she can not hang onto the information that she now lives in our house with us. She remembers being helpful while not remembering that she can not do even the simplest tasks now without constant supervision.

Therefore, while my wife has been away I have moved from the church office to our living room. I am here to care for her. While not physically demanding, this task does call for patience, love, thoughtfulness and gentleness. These virtues are not all naturally occurring in me. I do testify that if these have been in my life this week, as at any time, they are there because of the God who is working His work in me. (Eph. 2:10)

There have been time when I just wanted to . . . However, at the same time, my companion has been relatively easy to care for. There has been but one major mishap to clean up, there could have been many more. I must give praise and credit to the Lord for providing, in his grace and providence, a pleasant time.

As I have aged, i.e. gotten wiser, I have come to realize that doing all to the glory of God does not necessarily mean that I will be assigned big heroic jobs to do for God one after another. More likely, I might be assigned to care for an elderly lady who will provide me with numerous opportunities to do things, conscientiously, for God's glory. These opportunities might easily be missed if I am just waiting for that big moment to serve God, while growing impatience with the constant repetition of questions or statements, uncertainty of purpose for the moment, and the slowness of movement through even the simplest of tasks.

I would like to report that I have done all things perfectly for God's glory. However, that would be a lie. What I can do is testify that God's grace has been sufficient for the moment. Yes, I have struggled, but thanks be to God, I have overcome, by the blood of the Lamb.