Blessing and curse

I am grateful for the material blessings God has granted us. Angie and I have a nice home (even if it is in Plano now), good health, able to keep the house in Oklahoma while Phil finishes college, and much more. Amazing when I think about how we are able to do that without Angie having to work to provide more income. Sure, we could have more material stuff if she were to work, and she has when times required it. But I enjoy the blessings, and watching the blessings, of her being a full-time disciple of Christ.

She is able to be actively involved in the lives of our grown children, be a comfort to friends in distress, encourage others in good times, visit her Mom and my parents in Oklahoma, and so much else. For example, this week she was able to drive to Oklahoma to sit with a friend at the hospital while the friend's Dad underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor; spend the night with another friend; visit two of our children; and take her Mom to visit friends & family in Missouri. Before she gets back to Plano, she will visit our children in Kansas, my niece and new baby great niece in Oklahoma, my parents, and who knows how many others.

While she is away, I arrange my schedule to suit just me. I eat what I want to fix (or buy) and when I want. I learn what Paul talks about when he says the unmarried man's mind isn't divided thinking about how to please his wife.

But I also learn how the house isn't a home when she is away. It's a building to store things; a place to eat and sleep. A lonely place to eat and sleep.

Its a blessing to know how she is blessing the lives of others through using her God-given abilities. But its a curse to be here instead of with her. Blessing and curse.