I had hip replacement surgery done two days ago, and I am lying in bed, healing up. Patty is taking care of me. Patty is a servant in temperament and spiritual gifting, and she is attracted to those with needs. She often spends way more time with others who have needs than she does with me at home regularly because I am fine and don’t need much help.  I am good with that because she gets so much fulfillment in helping others. But now, she is entirely devoted to taking care of me. Getting this much attention from her is almost worth the pain and inconvenience of hip replacement surgery. She helps me into and out of bed, brings me coffee whenever I want some, massages my feet, scratches my back, brings me food to eat, gets up, and gets me a drink of water in the middle of the night. She hugs, kisses, and tells me how wonderful I am.

I have counseled so many marriages where when one or the other spouses gets sick or laid up, their marriage struggles because of the extra pressure and demands on their schedule. I can’t remember everything, but when Patty had her hip surgery a number of years ago, I think I did OK as her caregiver. I certainly didn’t feel put out or that my schedule was being infringed upon. I felt honored to be able to help Patty when she was laid up. However good I might have been assisting Patty, I wasn’t close to being as wonderful as Patty has been to me. I get all choked up as I think about it as I write this blog. I have a lot of blessings in my life, but my wife is the most wonderful of them all.