Is a Minister's Wife Lucky?

Is it glamorous or tedious or what?

Lavonne Bierwagen, Minister's wife, Arizona

The other day I received a let­ter from a woman, two sen­tences of which read: "You are so lucky to be married to a min­ister. I always wanted to marry a minister." I wrote back and assured her that I was "lucky" to be married to my husband no matter what he was. With the hope of helping her to be content with her lot, I added that I supposed being a minister's wife looked quite glamorous from the outside, but that even with it's compensations it wasn't all glamour; it in­volved lots of hard work.

That letter started me thinking about my role as a minister's wife. True, I had thought about it many times before—even back in my senior year in academy when my "minister" and I were finding each other's friendship quite enjoyable and one of our mutual friends pre­sented me with a Youth's Instructor article, "Do You Really Want to Marry a Minister?" At that time I hadn't been asked to marry the minister, but I read the article and weighed the possibilities, and I knew what my answer would be.

I think of the times I have been tempted to complain and even have yielded to the temp­tation when the pressures of the task seemed too much for me. Recently, while spending about six hours a day helping my husband in his evangelistic endeavors, I must have let some of my feelings slip out about how I was neg­lecting some of my home duties and our chil­dren. For my husband, in his typical humorous way, brought my smiles back by saying, "Don't worry, you'll get your reward. When Gabriel asks me what you've been doing, I'll tell him."

What are some of the things a minister's wife might be tempted to complain about? Could it be the boxes of songbooks, attendance gifts, bor­rowed films and projectors, stacked in an al­ready too-crowded living room awaiting an evangelistic crusade? But think of the reward of people won as a result of the endeavor. The inconvenience is so short in comparison. The salvation of souls should be our greatest objec­tive, and for this we can endure.

There are the many hours spent in travel, if your members are scattered or you have more than one church. But think how happy the people are to see the minister's wife too. They expect to see her and they have a right to. It doubles the influence of the minister. And there are some people the minister's wife can help that the minister cannot.

Then there are the many irregular, odd jobs the minister's wife finds herself involved in by being married to a man who is a public speaker, a student and researcher, a business administrator and fund raiser, a counselor and social worker, a public relations and religious education director, a youth leader, and many more.

It may be that the minister's wife is asked to conduct cooking classes or parent classes, and all the details fall on her shoulders. Yet, think of those who will determine to build stronger, healthier bodies and be better parents and homemakers as a result.

Could it be that the loud speakers and the tape recorders are piled in a corner waiting for the Ingathering caroling? That's the way it is at our house now (November). But I'm not going to say a word. When the time comes I'll bundle up the girls and put the baby in stroller and off we'll go, caroling to help with the load of our three churches. You see,

I remember the joy that came to hearts old and young last year when our girls went from door to door among the rich and poor, singing "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger." They usually received larger donations than the adults did with the tape recordings.

Yes, I'm "lucky" I married a minister!


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Lavonne Bierwagen, Minister's wife, Arizona

April 1963

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