Living in a small town, as a preacher's wife, nothing is private. I have learned to accept and expect this. However, sometimes it still catches me off guard.
For example, my husband took the pulpit a couple of Sundays ago and began his sermon. I was on the front row, smiling and listening supportively, as any good Southern Baptist Pastor's wife would. When suddenly, I realized my husband was explicitly describing our "Battle of the Bugs" to our entire congregation.
You see, we live in a wooded area, that is experiencing a drought. Therefore, we have had a real problem with, dare I say, COCKROACHES! Well, I was none to happy, to say the least, about my bug business being made public for the sake of a sermon illustration. However, to make matters worse, the next week our exterminator left a message on my phone. He said that while servicing one of our parishioners, they told him about our problem with "the cockroaches". Therefore, he was calling to inform me, he would plan to "special treat" our home during our next scheduled service. There I stood, jaw dropped, my bug business being talked about all over town. I was mortified! Then, I began to laugh. Who am I to pridefully try and conceal my struggle with a common household enemy?
It has taken a couple of weeks of praying through this for me to realize that our parishioners were not talking about me and my bugs but showing concern and love for me and my home. I had to swallow my pride and thank God for my lesson in humility, even if it came in the form of a cockroach.
