Sacrifice

My husband has spent the bulk of this day in the garage.  It was not what he had planned to do on his day off, but the brakes on his car started making some grinding noises and he decided to go ahead and change them himself.  Why? To save us money.  I felt sort of bad because he already usually spends part of his day off mowing our lawn, but this took way longer than that.

Did I mention his car is a 1998?  As in 12, almost 13 years old?  No slick SUV or big truck for my man. Just an old paid off car that we are grateful for, and that he doesn't complain about.

He also doesn't complain that there are no large, flat screen TV's in our house, just two old hand-me-downs.  And those are virtually used only for DVD's, because we don't have cable, and never have in our nearly a decade of marriage.  That means he has somehow survived his adult years without ESPN and other such luxuries.  Amazing.

Most days he eats lunch in his office with groceries he picks up.  It is only occasional that he eats out, even though I know he enjoys that more.

He also does not have an iphone, even though he would absolutely love one, simply because we could not manage the monthly payment.  That is only one of the many gadgets he has admired but resisted through the years.  In fact, he doesn't even have internet on his phone and our internet at home is the cheapest we could get, therefore not as fast as I'm sure he would prefer.

Why?  Because when we got married, we had goals to give to God first, stay out of debt, and to make whatever choices we could to try to enable me to be home as much as possible when we became parents.  He makes daily sacrifices to be a giving provider that puts God and family over luxuries that our society deems as necessities.  We have trimmed budgets and scrimped and pinched and been creative through the years to be the best stewards of what God has given us.  And we have seen God bless us beyond measure, never lacking for anything.  He is a generous God.

But as I saw my husband working so hard today to make another sacrifice and provision for our little family, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you.

Thank you, Jimmy.  Not every man would do what you do, and be content in their relationship with God and family like you are.  Thank you for not pursuing things, but pursuing love.  Thank you for not being filled with insecurities that drive you to obtain, but for being filled with sincerity and compassion that drive you to give.  Thank you for saying no to purchases instead of yes to piles of debt. Thank you for seeing the value of a mom at home during this season of little lives, and being willing to do what it takes to make that a priority as long as we are able. I know you would shrug and say that's just what you do.  But it's not what everyone does.

And I would rather be married to a man like you than have any measure of fancy cars or possessions. Because every day when you make another sacrifice for our family, you are an example to me of Jesus, who made the greatest sacrifice of all for us.

Let's keep living this happy, simple little life together for Him.