His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matt. 25:21)
Thank you, for your service….
How many times have you heard others tell your husband that? Often complete strangers have said those words to my hubby while I’m standing right there; I’ve also had people say “Tell your husband thank you for his service” when they find out I’m an Army wife.
Now maybe this doesn’t bother you a bit, and truly I am thankful for their recognition of the sacrifices he makes (unlike those clueless souls who say things like “I don’t know how you do it!”). But for me, this ranks right up there with “you’re not in the military” for rubbing me the wrong way! Technically I’m not in the Army, but let’s face it our families SERVE in many ways and often thanklessly. I always just think, what am I – chopped liver? And if it’s an especially bad day or time when I’m feeling unheard, unseen or unappreciated -I grumble along thinking, HELLLOOOOO! I’m the one doing the real work here! He doesn’t have to deal with the kids’ attitudes, sickness or school needs; broken appliances, car trouble, stretching the budget, worrying about how this will or won’t scar our children for life, or any of the myriad things we military wives do when hubbys are deployed/away (and let’s just add, worrying that the Chaplain might show up at my door in dress uniform shall we?!). He’s got minions to command who generally don’t talk back at that moment!
Or how about family members who still don’t get our lifestyle (21 years later) and keep asking when we are going to retire and why we keep doing what we do? And heaven forbid that one of them says something along the lines of “you’re not really the one serving.” Once when I read my sister my very favorite military wife poem which ends with “she was as much a soldier as she was a soldier’s wife” (can I get a HOOAAH! ?), she told me that’s just silly, that’s like I’m saying as much a ________ as my husband! (grrr…)
It was after someone I just met had said “please tell you husband thank you for his service,” and I sighed deeply within, just smiled at that person and said, “Thank you,” that the Lord whispered to my heart:
“It’s okay, Daughter, I SEE.”
Even though many times others are often clueless about what really goes on in our life or how it niggles in my spirit when they overlook the things we do as a military family, GOD sees everything: the good, bad and the ugly! He knows every time I’m lonely, frustrated, angry, irritable, or exhausted. He hasn’t forgotten the seemingly insignificant things that add up on a daily basis when Hubby’s gone. He understands when I just don’t feel like I can put one foot in front of the other anymore, when I feel like it’s all for naught or totally taken for granted or am just needing some affirmation and a thank you to continue on. And He isn’t going to forget …
One day He’s hopefully going to say:
“Thank you for your service and faithfulness to me:
Well done, you upright (honorable, admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the blessedness) which your master enjoys.”…Matt. 25:21 (Amplified Bible)
In those times when no one seems to care, or they just don’t seem to want to; the days when we feel proud and wonderful or the days when we feel so alone, You and I can take comfort that God is a God who sees (Gen 16:7-13. 21:15-19). Thank you ladies, each of you, for your service both to our country and therefore the world, and to the Lord!