Qualities of a wife

For several years now, Andy has served as an elder in our local congregation. After being a Christian for a long time and serving as a Deacon in two different places, he was approached about being considered to serve as an elder. We were humbled and honored. We both knew the "qualifications" that scripture puts out for us, which describe a man of maturity and wisdom, of good reputation and worthy to be both a leader and a model. After the process made its way through, Andy began to serve.

Several times during this adventure, I've thought about the qualities of an elder's wife. Surely, I've known many different ladies in my life, those of every temperment and personality type. I've tried to find commonality amongst my fellow elders' wives, and I'll be honest - we don't all have a lot in common or seek each other out as a unit.

However, I have come to see one - perhaps the most important- quality that we all appear to have. We have the honor of sharing our husbands with the whole church; sometimes to our dismay. Dinners go uneaten, movies interrupted, and plans changed at the last minute. To be truthful, there's a part of me that sometimes loses focus and recalls the days when there weren't these demands placed on our lives; but that is the reason we waited until the girls were gone to college before we took this work on. They deserved a full-time dad, and especially not parents under the microscope.

I'm pretty glad there isn't a list somewhere that delegates how elders' wives are supposed to be - I find myself pretty different from most of the other wives and that would be a problem. I draw strength from a couple of fellow wives who encourage and uplift me and I love them to death. I'm just going to love my husband and try to make his service to others an easier and more joyful situation. Perhaps that's my biggest job of all.