Pastors, do something this week to remind your wife how thankful you are for her in all these unseen, overlooked labors of love she does to serve you. Remember all those Sundays she stayed home with sick kids so you could preach and be grateful. That is her ministry so you can do your ministry. As I was reminded this weekend, I cannot do my ministry well without my wife being faithful to hers.

This past weekend was quite the whirlwind for our family. I put my wife on a plane at 5:30 am on Friday morning to attend her aunt’s funeral over the weekend in Minnesota. This is the wife of the uncle who committed suicide earlier this year, which I reference in this previous post: What should you “NOT” do at a funeral. This left me caring for our 4 kids and 2 dogs (one was the in-law’s dog who is pregnant) during a very busy weekend. To add to the craziness, 2 of my 4 children began running fevers Saturday evening, which means I now cannot take them to church with me on Sunday. But, that is okay because I can just…oh wait, I’m preaching tomorrow!

It was in this moment where I was reminded afresh of all my wife does for me and our family as a pastor’s wife. We were certainly missing her for several reasons, but now we were reminded of the unique and valuable role she plays week after week, year after year. She regularly serves and sacrifices for our family so I can go and do the ministry God has called me to do, specifically in this moment go and preach to our people to feed them with God’s word. Most of the time this kind of service of the pastor’s wife goes unnoticed, overlooked, and unappreciated by most in the church and that includes too often…the pastor himself.

Thankfully, my mother who lives in town was kind enough to come and care for my sick kids so I could go and preach Sunday morning. But I did not allow my wife’s normal selfless efforts to go unnoticed in this moment. Therefore, I thought I would seize the moment to remind each of us as pastors as well as the congregations we serve of another reason we should all be so grateful for the pastor’s wife. This selfless service and sacrifice marks the lives of so many who are not just pastors’ wives, but also wives of busy husbands and moms of demanding children. Yet they continue to press on to the glory of God. That is their ministry. They should not go unnoticed by us, for be assured they are not beyond the grateful gaze of our Lord.

Pastors, do something this week to remind your wife how thankful you are for her in all these unseen, overlooked labors of love she does to serve you. Remember all those Sundays she stayed home with sick kids so you could preach and be grateful. That is her ministry so you can do your ministry. As I was reminded this weekend, I cannot do my ministry well without my wife being faithful to hers.

For those men who are not yet pastors or the regular preaching pastor, make sure you read this post:

How can an aspiring pastor serve his wife before actually becoming the pastor?

Brian Croft is Senior Pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at both Belmont University and Indiana University receiving his B.A. in Sociology. He also undertook some graduate work at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. This article is from his blog, Practical Shepherding, and is used with permission.