Sunday, November 4, 2012

It Is Never Too Late


Her dad was a pastor.  Her mom was a stay at home mom.  Her mom wore the pants in the family.  Her mom fought her dad all the time and was always mad at him.  This young girl grew up to be the same way in her marriage.  She fought her husband and was always mad at him.
Late in life, her mother got brain cancer and her father had to take care of her.   This is what she saw ~
And then things at home began to change. Mum got brain cancer and we thought we were going to lose her. And in the meantime, I saw my parents fall in love with each other, even as my dad was changing Mum’s Depends and feeding her food and bathing her, I saw her laughing at his jokes and leaning on his arm and telling him how handsome he looked.
And Dad’s shoulders began to straighten out, even as he helped carry Mum across the floor to her favorite blue chair. Even as he microwaved potatoes for supper for the umpteenth time and folded his tattered underclothes and washed mum’s soaked sheets.
Mum needed Dad. Mum respected Dad. Mum loved him.
And Dad cherished her. Ministry was no longer someplace outside of the home, it was in my parents’ living room, at that blue chair where Dad bowed to cut Mum’s toenails and brought her tea and she thanked him over and over. And some days she wouldn’t wake up and Dad would sit beside her and type out his sermons on his laptop while she leaned against his arm.
When my mum stopped taking my dad for granted, and started needing him for who he was, he began to rise up to his full potential. He became a strong, confident, loving husband who protected and cared for his wife. He became the kind of man I could respect.
Powerful!  It is never too late to change.  Start loving and serving your husband.  Stop fighting him and being angry with him.  Love and forgiveness are powerful and changes people, even husbands.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."
John 13:12-15