Today is Thanksgiving. I have not participated in the thankful challenge this year, but the other day as I sat and watched my husband being prepped for a medical test, with his long-sleeve button up hanging on a hook behind me, sitting there in his denim jeans and white Hanes t-shirt, I was reminded once again why I am thankful for Hanes white t-shirts.
When I was a little girl one of my favorite things to sleep in was my Daddy’s Hanes white t-shirt. I did not want fancy pajama’s when it was time for bed I wanted to snuggle into my bed wearing my Daddy’s t-shirt. My Daddy is 6’4″, so as a little girl when I would put that Hanes t-shirt on, those short sleeves on my Daddy would come almost to my wrist and that t-shirt was almost long enough on me to cover my ankles. I was covered in the reminder that my Daddy was with me when I laid down to sleep.
When my husband and I got married, and I pulled our girls out of the tub, there were many times that they wanted to sleep in either my pajama’s or my husband’s t-shirt, and well guess what this Momma did? I wrapped them babies up in a fuzzy towel and we went to the master bedroom to get them their choice of the night… and I would tell them every time, “Guess what Mommy’s favorite thing to sleep in was when she was your age? Papaw Wayne’s plain old white t-shirt!”
Close to a year ago, I was upstairs in the master bedroom, aka Mommy and Daddy’s room, and I had the laundry dumped on the bed as I was folding away, I grabbed one of my husband’s Hanes white t-shirts to fold and I just stopped…
I stopped and I held it out in front of me and I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving. I flashed back to when I was a little girl wearing that Hanes white t-shirt of my Daddy’s. Wearing the shirt of the man who would make sure I had food on the table and a roof over my head. He would make sure I was warm when it was cold and cool when it was hot. He would make sure I made it to the doctor when I was sick and he would make sure those doctor bills were payed. He would make sure there were clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. He would make sure that I knew that if anyone tried to hurt me they would have to kill him first and if for some reason they hurt me when he was not there, he would kill them. He would be the reason I never feared the night and looked forward to the next day with no worry or care. Then, one day, he transferred all that responsibility to another man… to the man whose Hanes white t-shirt I was folding.
The man who wore this Hanes white t-shirt that I was now folding stepped in to fill many roles in my life. He stepped in to be the one who would make sure I had food on the table and a roof over my head. He would make sure I was warm when it was cold and cool when it was hot. He would make sure I made it to the doctor when I was sick and he would make sure those doctor bills were payed. He would make sure there were clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. He would make sure that I knew that if anyone tried to hurt me they would have to kill him first and if for some reason they hurt me when he was not there, he would kill them. He would be the reason I never feared the night and looked forward to the next day with no worry or care… and then he would also be the one who would commit to doing all those things for our children.
How on earth could I ever complain about being the one to fold those white Hanes t-shirt? I couldn’t. Folding that Hanes white t-shirt is an honor for me… it is a reminder to me that I am loved by three of the greatest men that God ever formed in the womb.
My Daddy…
My husband…
and my Jesus, because God used both my Daddy and my husband to bring me to my Jesus. As a matter of fact, I imagine that when Jesus comes riding in on His white horse to redeem and defend His bride and bring her home, that under that Armor of God there will be a Hanes white t-shirt 😉
There seems to be a growing trend for we women of the modern age… the trend of thinking we are more than we ought.
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Romans 12:3
That wonderful man of mine was up this morning and started a crock pot of green beans for Thanksgiving dinner and a load of jeans and then he sat down to watch a little TV and from my office, in the background, I heard this…
This seems to the perfect time for many women to “suffer” through the last few months of marriage, you know for the kids, because when the holidays are over, they are going to kick hubby to the curve… rarely because he is abusing them or the kids… usually it’s just because they are tired of having to actually live out the gospel. They are tired of having to extend grace and forgiveness and mercy seventy times seven times. If you follow my blog you know I am not being condescending… I have been that woman. However, by the grace of God and the desire to walk in obedience to Him and not my changing feelings I love my husband more today that I even imagined was possible… and I can’t even fathom how much more I will love him after fifteen more years of folding his t-shirts.
I LOVE folding that man’s Hanes white t-shirts.. but shhhhh don’t tell him that 😉
Normal?
What is normal?
I agree with the Momma in the movie clip above… our imagination of normal does not exist. Normal is a beautiful messy forgiveness wrapped ball of mercy dipped in grace with a bow of love on top!
That man of yours is a mystery… he comes with a story that is going to take you years to read… and the more you read beloved the more you will grow to love this man who chose you… and whom you chose back. And not to mention, that there is absolutely nothing that I find my husband more attractive in than his denim jeans and plain old Hanes white t-shirt!