The Minister's Wife

In Public

She wears a hat to church each Sunday.
She sits down front, close to the pulpit.
She knows the words to all the hymns.
She recites the liturgy from memory.
Her children go to Sunday School.
She wears white gloves and pearl earrings.
Her hairstyle is ten years out of date.
She wears her skirts below her knees.
She drives an older Chevrolet.
She genuflects before communion.
She buys her clothes at J.C. Penney’s.
She avoids discussing politics.
She listens well and smiles often.
She very rarely criticizes.
She serves on several church committees.
She entertains on Friday nights.

In Private

She sneaks a smoke when no one’s looking.
She spends a lot of time on Facebook.
She curses under her breath
at the slightest provocation.
She gravitates to romance novels.
She often has erotic dreams.
She envies other women who are
better dressed than she is.
She resents the late night phone calls
and parishioner demands.
She’s sick of parish politics
and tithing every year.
She thinks about her early life
when she was still a teacher.
She finds it’s hardest late at night
when everyone is sleeping
and she is left to contemplate
the choices that she’s made.
She knows her faith is fragile.
She prays to God to help her
to become the kind of person
every congregation needs.