Monday, September 04, 2006

One of the most difficult aspects of being the wife of a pastor (or "assistant college pastor")has been having the ability to be free and open with my schedule and plans. Can we go to a cookout tonight that we just found out about 5 minutes ago? Technically, yes. But what about the chicken I took out of the freezer last night? The next chance we'll have to cook it is Thursday, and I don't trust raw chicken to last that long. And I was planning on getting groceries tonight. We need groceries. I HAD PLANS TONIGHT. No, they may not seem important to you, but to me, they are, because I get really into my plans. I like stability; I like to know what's going on. And it's hard for me to just up and change things at the drop of a hat.

I'm getting better at it though. I've been dealing much better with the craziness of this semester than I have the past two years. Did I throw a fit that Thursday's date night got cancelled because of 635 preparations? No, I didn't. That's pretty big for me. Instead of whining and complaining and sighing real loud, I took advantage of the opportunity to get tomato basil soup from Jason's deli and spend a relaxing evening with my fun puppies. And am I throwing a fit about tonight's cookout? No, I'm not. At least, not too badly.

So I'm learning and growing. But I still hate change, and I'm still a pretty big stick-in-the-mud when it comes to most things. But I'm trying. And that means somthing, doesn't it?

4 comments:

mindy said...

That is hard to get used to...unfortunately, the church sometimes demands people to drop all prior commitments for the church. There's some kind of line in there to be drawn. I work for our church and my hubby & I really value our time together. So, I have to draw major boundaries and say "I had a prior commitment" (even if it's to eat dinner with my husband & watch tv). Paul says if we can't take care of our own family, we shouldn't be in charge of the church. This is no comment on your husband but something I quote at times to my own pastor to let him know that family is a priority that must remain above work. The line in there that's hard is that Christ is top priority and we are working technically for the church. So a lot of times that is mixed up between priorities.
I don't know what to say except I feel your frustration and I, too, get very very angry when my plans or stability is changed. I don't do well with that.
You aren't wrong for what you feel is I guess what I'm saying.

Sommer West, MPH said...

Rebecca...how do you know Mindy? Mindy...how do you know Rebecca. I'm confused by this coincidence. Is it b/c of Karen and Christy?

-Sommer :)

Rebecca said...

Haha... we just know each other through blogs... she found mine through Karen :)

mindy said...

sommer, didn't you know there's a club? i'm kidding. all the fun of blogging.