Wife of Covenience

She was trembling as I came into the room. I spoke to her softly as her eyes welled up with tears. Separated for years from her husband, only living under the same roof, but still trying to care for him with all his physical ailments and needs. Until today, the time had come to say enough. She was tired of managing it all, fixing it all, controlling it all. She was just a wife of convenience, just one to pick up after him, and be at his beckoned call. Until today . . .

I hear this story often. I know there is something within women to care and nurture, even if it isn't always reciprocal. Women have enduring patience and long suffering that can put up with excruciating pain. Women can bear the physical pain of childbirth, and yet after the birth seemingly forget the agony as they revel in the joy of their newborn babe. Marriage shouldn't be reduced to convenience. Beneath the stamina of a wife in caring for her family, is her need of being nurtured and cared for as well. Wives need to be appreciated for who they are, just as they are, and not for just the things they do. A wife of convenience is lonely and longing for her companion to come along side her and see her as she really is. Convenience conveys taking one for granted, and seems to conveniently squelch the life out of a marriage that started out with two individuals risking inconvenience with one another, for the sake of not conveniently being by themselves.

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