27 December 2020
They had been married for 7 years and had a four year old son.
He was busy working and pursuing an MBA.
She was consumed with caring for their child and holding down a part time job.
On Christmas morning as they were going to Mass,
she slipped on the icy driveway and shattered the bones in her shin.
They spent the day in the hospital.
Some Christmas.
But that wasn’t he worst of it.
Because her leg was so badly broken she was confined to bed rest for a week.
For her it was a prison sentence, for him, well he became Mr. Mom.
Cooking, cleaning, caring for their son, caring for his wife–
he longed to get back to work and school.
One afternoon as he was standing at the kitchen sink,
scrubbing a pot that just wouldn’t come clean because he’d burned it so badly,
it dawned on him that his wife had stood their scrubbing the same pot,
for seven years.
For seven long years she had cooked, cleaned, cared for him.
“She must love me,” he thought.
He dropped the pot in the sink wiped his hands and went upstairs
to where his wife was watching the news in bed.
He put his arms around her and said,
“Thank you dear, for loving me so much.”
At which point his wife said,
“That’s nice, now can you scoot over so I can see the weather forecast?”
(Based on a story in the Lexington Herald-Leader, 22 December 1988 by Paul Prather.)
Some times we don’t understand how much we are loved.
Just as the love and care of our families and friends can some times be invisible to us,
so can the love of God.
Christmas is the love of God made visible. I hope we can open our eyes to the love of our families and friends