All the Difference

This Theophany Ben was away for a few days. Our bishop was sick but needed to go to Wisconsin to ordain a priest and a subdeacon. Ben, Subdeacon Benjamin, offered to drive the bishop and accompany him on his trip. So early Friday morning they both left. They returned Monday evening, after Theophany Sunday.

While they were gone it reminded me a lot of the times when Ben was a pastor, when he would have to travel for conventions and what not. I would be left home with two very small children, alone in the big white parsonage in the middle of endless cornfields, with nowhere to go and no one to see, not even a parishioner to stop by. It was terribly lonely.

So now my husband was away again for the sake of the Church and the kids and I were home. It was worlds different! For one, we were in the city. Huge benefit to not feeling isolated! Second, the kids were older and I had the car so we were able to get out and do a few fun things together. Third, someone actually cared that we were by ourselves for a few days. Kh. Charlotte found out that Ben went with the Bishop and she called immediately to see how we were doing and to offer any help we might need. On Sunday evening she even came over to our apartment and entertained the kids and we enjoyed some nice conversation. She even took us out to dinner and absolutely spoiled the kids by letting them get dessert! And most importantly, underpinning all of this is the Orthodox faith, which not only makes all the difference in the world but is new life itself.  

This time was so radically different that it felt as if all those lonely times before were brought into the life of Christ, the life of the Church, and were redeemed and made holy and... happy even. The Orthodox Church is often compared to a hospital. Indeed, this experience was like the removal of stitches on a long healing sore. It is not easy to be a pastor's wife (and I'm assuming it is the same to be a priest's wife...). When we left Lutheranism it was rather a relief to be a just a plain old parishioner again, for a few different reasons but mainly because it was what was needed. Spending time as part of the Orthodox faithful has helped me realize that if we should ever be in such a situation again (not saying that we ever, ever would be - Lord have mercy) but things wouldn't be the same. I'm glad to finally recognize this - until this point I think I was very gun-shy about it.

Now I can put everything in God's hands and feel confident that we will never be without help, without our Comforter.