A Wise Woman

A wise woman builds her home,
but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 14:1(NLT)

Last night, I perused our copy of The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: King Solomon's Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness by Steven Scott while brushing my teeth (talk about multi-tasking!).

This verse stood out to me - as it always does. I mean, what a verse! Honestly, I don't recall what Scott was saying about the verse (I was brushing my teeth, after all), but I meditated on it for awhile before falling asleep.

1. What a powerful influence a woman has on her home! In fact, to use the word "influence" is probably not sufficient. This verse says that a woman will either build her home or destroy it. That's more than influence...I can't even think of a word for it. Destiny? The very destiny of our homes. A sovereign God, in Whose hands is every scheme of man, yet writes that it is possible for the foolishness of a woman to actually tear down her home. Yikes!

2. I'm reminded of the purposeful, intent focus I must have. A wise woman is continually in the process of building her home. The word "build" involves time, materials, planning, counsel, more time, effort, sweat, sacrifice, money, more time.

I am thankful for the progress God's helped me make in my homemaking over the past few months - but I have such a long way to go! As I thought on what I need to do to continue to build my home, I saw so many weak areas. Things I've been lazy about, neglectful, or wasteful. Commitments I'd made that I've let slide again. Areas I've needed to change, yet because I didn't follow through by writing them down or focused some mental energy on them, they are still shoddy.

I realize that no one will be perfect until we are glorified with Christ; I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty :) When you meditate on verses like this, though, it is impossible not to look in the mirror and take a serious look at how you're using your energy and time.

On our way to drop my husband off at 4:30 this morning (so that we could have the car today), the radio station had a special report on the dilemma the military is facing with the children of deployed troops, specifically female troops. 10% of deployed troops are women, and many of them are single mothers or are married to servicemen, leaving their children with family members or friends when deployed. The military's problem, the reporter shared, is how to help these parents once they return home, as they are dealing with parenting along with post-traumatic stress, injuries, and a host of other issues.

Now, I'm not going to say this to bash our female troops - I really feel for them, and am only beginning to appreciate the sacrifices our troops make for us. And I realize some of my readers may not agree with my following assessment, but it is not intended to argue for or against woman in the military.

But I thought of this verse, and had to wonder - if more of our woman 1)were pursuing wisdom (A wise woman builds her home), and 2) were spending most of their time caring for their homes, not in the workplace or overseas (A wise woman builds her home, not her career or world peace or whatever)..would our homes be in better shape? I believe they would.

While this particular verse doesn't necessarily make the case for woman staying at home vs. working full time, it sure makes the point that it is a wise woman who puts her valuable talents and energy into building her home.