The glue that holds it all together

What do I especially thank God for this Thanksgiving? Well, let me tell you.

Do the responsibilities and commitments of life sometimes feel like a house of cards? I start feeling that way every November. It seems that one recurring reality of my life is that autumn gets extremely busy. The job. My school work. The boys’ sports activities. Events and responsibilities at church. Kids getting sick. Meetings for this. Meetings for that. By this time of year, I start feeling a little overwhelmed. It seems every second of every day is accounted for, and there seems to be so much I need to accomplish that I just don’t get around to doing.

All of these pressures are perched precariously on top of one another like the proverbial house of cards. It seems that with just one nudge of the table, one gust of wind from an open door— and poof!—the delicately balanced cards will collapse to the ground. During these extremely busy times in life it seems like there is little room for error. One accident, one unplanned event, or one missed responsibility could have a seriously negative domino effect.

But what if that house of cards was glued together? Glued together really well? So well that when the table is nudged, or the wind blows, the house doesn’t fall apart? It doesn’t break. It withstands the strain.

I often refer to my wife as “the glue that holds it all together” in our household. And I’m not exaggerating. (I know it’s not a very romantic analogy, likening my wife to glue. I’ll do better in my Valentine’s Day entry, I promise.) But what I mean is this. There are a thousand, and I mean a thousand, little things that she does that keeps the Quackenblog house of cards standing.

I’m not just talking about cooking, cleaning, and making lunches. She does all that (while holding down a teaching job). But she also takes care of so many things, down to the smallest details of our life that I take for granted. Somehow she knows where everything is supposed to be. Not me. Whenever I empty the dishwasher, I always make a small “I-don’t-know-where-it-goes” pile (endearing, huh?). Somehow she knows where we are all supposed to be (and why). I pretty much forget stuff pertaining to the daily and weekly grind, even when I write it down. But she keeps us all moving in the right direction.

But after she does all of those thousand “little” things, she somehow has the time to spend quality time with me and the boys. She is my closest friend, and I cherish talking to her and confiding in her every day. And I cherish and appreciate the quality time that she spends teaching and raising our boys, setting an example of what a Godly woman is.

The term “Proverbs 31 woman” gets tossed around a lot, but I can’t think of a better description for my wife.

Anyway, thanks to all for reading my blog, and have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be goofing off visiting family and going to my reunion this weekend, so I will resume blogging on the Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine on the 30th.

Happy Thanksgiving!