04/27/21 HONOR TO WHOM HONOR

04/27/21 HONOR TO WHOM HONOR

It is not her birthday or her anniversary.

It is how I feel everyday, and can't tell her often enough. Martha is a super wonderful servant of God, as a wife, mother and church member. She does what a homemaker is supposed to do, with joy and vision because she loves Jesus and others.

This is basic but it is not insignificant. She keeps my house clean, she cares for me, when I am well and when I am sick, without complaint or negative attitude. I try to tell her to take it easy and not be so busy, attentive, self denying, but it falls on deaf ears. She is a faithful loving child of God, when she is doing physically well and when she isn't doing well. I try to be a good, sensitive, considerate husband, but she outshines me in this areas.

Through the years I have made choices (in following God's leading) that have been hard, demanding, misunderstood and scoffed by some folks, but Martha has not only gone along with me, she has been my biggest encouragement and fellow warrior.

She has been a loving, faithful, self-denying wife and mother. She has always put her family (and her service in the church) ahead of her own comfort, plans. She supported and participated fully in the discipline of our children. She taught the girls what it means to be a dedicated wife and mother and homemaker. She has trained up our children in the way they should have gone; she taught them manners, academics, social graces, Christian ethics, spiritual principles. She instilled personal responsibility, accountability, sensitivity, affection, respect, honor, humility and so much more.

I sometimes make a wreck of my rec-room, (gym, study, retreat closet, hideaway) and won't let her straighten it up 'cause I am afraid she will disappear in the disaster I have made. I have not always been able to give her the most conducive or roomy accommodations or the best tools for her many tasks, but that has not kept her from accomplishing the near impossible. Whether we had pets or not; whether we lived in a van or a trailer or a partially finished house; whether it was in the mountains or on the beach, in the city or in the boonies; whether we had electricity or not; whether we had running water or not; whether the wolf was at the door or not, Martha has always provided us with a clean home, great meals, clean and presentable clothes. Difficult circumstances, limited time, inconvenience, personal desires have not thwarted her from doing what she should do.

I still, to this day, have a home that is pleasant and comfortable and always presentable because Martha sees her life as wife, mother, grandmother, Christian, as an offering to God. Self serving and laziness are foreign to her. Not only does she do her "job" (live her life) adequately, she does it superbly. She has dreamed dreams with me and been willing to struggle with me in the most difficult times, without hesitation or bad attitude.

There is much, much, much more I could say, as tribute to Martha Ann, but I know she will say that it is nothing more than she should do as a wife and mother. Yes baby, but the thing is, you do it and you do it selflessly.