Proverbs 18:22
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord."
And all the women said AMEN!
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord."
And all the women said AMEN!
Proverbs 21:9
"It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house."
And all the men said AMEN!
No, I'm not about to start a war--I hope. :)
These two verses came to me in one solitary moment. So, there must be a reason that God gave me both verses simultaneously. That is what I want to explore here.
As the wife, it is often easy to quote Proverbs 18:22 to our husband to remind him just how lucky he is to have found such a wonderful mate. Someone who caused him to obtain "favour of the Lord." How cool is that? Having a wife put him in good stead with the Lord. But, are we each the type of wife who can be classified as "a good thing"?
Hmmm....well, maybe, um, yeah, sometimes... Uh oh.
Didn't think I was going there, did you? How can I not when the other verse refers directly to the kind of woman we sometimes are...
A brawling woman...
Brawl, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, means:
"It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house."
And all the men said AMEN!
No, I'm not about to start a war--I hope. :)
These two verses came to me in one solitary moment. So, there must be a reason that God gave me both verses simultaneously. That is what I want to explore here.
As the wife, it is often easy to quote Proverbs 18:22 to our husband to remind him just how lucky he is to have found such a wonderful mate. Someone who caused him to obtain "favour of the Lord." How cool is that? Having a wife put him in good stead with the Lord. But, are we each the type of wife who can be classified as "a good thing"?
Hmmm....well, maybe, um, yeah, sometimes... Uh oh.
Didn't think I was going there, did you? How can I not when the other verse refers directly to the kind of woman we sometimes are...
A brawling woman...
Brawl, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, means:
| 1: to quarrel or fight noisily
2: to make a loud confused noise
I am sure I must be the only woman who ever fit this description. Or am I? Are many of us guilty of making a loud confused noise when things don't go our way? Or when we don't get the things we didn't really tell him we wanted (he needs concrete hints, girls)? Or when the TV is too loud or the kids misbehave or the dogs track in mud on the just mopped floor? (Well, maybe THAT is just me.) But I think I am probably not alone in this. I think others have had those same experiences in their own houses. So how do we reconcile these 2 things? 25 years ago I would probably have given you a very different answer than today (something like--shoot him and hide the body!)
I do think, no I know, as the woman we set the tone for the household. When we've had a bad day at work or with the children or the parents or whatever, it is often easy to take that out on our husband. But we have to find a way to communicate with him without dragging him into our own frustration. I know that sometimes you can be talking with your spouse and suddenly wonder if there are 2 different conversations going on (still happens at my house--as a matter of fact, it did last night! ha ha). But, as the wife, the tone setter, we have to find a way to work around that. If you are a pouter (like I am sometimes) it may take a few minutes for you to be ready to set things back on track. If you are a yeller (like I am other times) you may have to give yourself a time out until you calm down. Whatever it takes, you have to take control of your own emotions.
As a wife, we should want every day for our husband to think finding a wife is a good thing. We never really want him to prefer the corner of the housetop over our company. I'm still working on this even after all these years but I get a little better at it as time goes on. Let's commit to not be the brawling woman but be the good thing--no, next to the Lord--the best thing in the life of our husband. I am fairly confident if we do that, we will be the ones to truly reap the rewards in the long run.
(Yes, this is mainly for wives, but don't worry, I'll get to the husbands later!)
“Happily ever after is not a fairy tale. It’s a choice.” Fawn Weaver | |||
