Proverbs 31
Mother's Day happened recently, and yes, I happened to have a really good one. But that is not what popped into my mind about Mother's Day. This post birthed itself while we were sitting in family devotions Sunday night and my husband chose to stray away from our OT reading in 2 Kings (a very non-presby thing to do, trust me!!) and he read to us Proverbs 31.
What got my attention was that he read the whole thing, not just the vs 10 and following about what a Christ-following woman looks like, but the preface, if you want to call it that. This preface jumped out at me when my husband began teaching our children, the BOYS along with our daughter, what a God fearing wife looks like. I had heard before that Proverbs 31 was written to a son (well the whole book is actually written for a son) but it is one of those things that gets filed away because so many churches will study Proverbs 31 ad nauseam. I really don't like studying the book myself because so many people try to use it as a checklist and heaven forbid if you don't actually do every jot and tiddle in the passage.
The concept of teaching my sons what to look for in a wife is not new to me or to our household. My husband is always mentioning the sort of thing that our children should be looking for in a future spouse, but this really did spin my head a bit. My boys really do need to be looking for a woman who will actually HELP them in their tasks, in glorifying God with their whole lives, who will be their help meet in life. I know so many women who really do believe that the man should pamper them, do housework, cook, do laundry, on top of working a full time job to support them. It should not be this way!! If you are blessed in this economy to stay home, then by golly, you better pull your fair share!!! If the roles were reversed and you had to get up, drag yourself in to work, perform for your boss all day long, you would pitch a fit if you walked in the door and things weren't put away, dishes cleared off the sink, table wiped after the meal, and laundry piled up. It is because my husband has seen this in real life that he directed his teaching to all our children, boys and girls. He wants our daughter to understand that someday she may need to support and be a helper to a husband. He wanted our boys to understand that their wives can help them or lead them astray
We had just been reading the 2 books of Kings, and when you read or study them, you may realize that the wives are the ones who led Solomon away from worshipping God properly. Wives are very strong influences on men. Even throughout history, wives have played important roles behind the scenes, when we didn't have the right to vote, women influenced history!! Did you know that Abigail Adams wrote an influential letter to her husband about treating women equally?? Yep.
NOTE: this does NOT pertain to couples who both work outside the home. This is specifically addressing a woman who gets to stay home and be the homemaker.
Being a Godly wife is important, but I am now more tuned in to making sure my sons know that a Godly wife is very important for them as well.
Written by,
What got my attention was that he read the whole thing, not just the vs 10 and following about what a Christ-following woman looks like, but the preface, if you want to call it that. This preface jumped out at me when my husband began teaching our children, the BOYS along with our daughter, what a God fearing wife looks like. I had heard before that Proverbs 31 was written to a son (well the whole book is actually written for a son) but it is one of those things that gets filed away because so many churches will study Proverbs 31 ad nauseam. I really don't like studying the book myself because so many people try to use it as a checklist and heaven forbid if you don't actually do every jot and tiddle in the passage.
The concept of teaching my sons what to look for in a wife is not new to me or to our household. My husband is always mentioning the sort of thing that our children should be looking for in a future spouse, but this really did spin my head a bit. My boys really do need to be looking for a woman who will actually HELP them in their tasks, in glorifying God with their whole lives, who will be their help meet in life. I know so many women who really do believe that the man should pamper them, do housework, cook, do laundry, on top of working a full time job to support them. It should not be this way!! If you are blessed in this economy to stay home, then by golly, you better pull your fair share!!! If the roles were reversed and you had to get up, drag yourself in to work, perform for your boss all day long, you would pitch a fit if you walked in the door and things weren't put away, dishes cleared off the sink, table wiped after the meal, and laundry piled up. It is because my husband has seen this in real life that he directed his teaching to all our children, boys and girls. He wants our daughter to understand that someday she may need to support and be a helper to a husband. He wanted our boys to understand that their wives can help them or lead them astray
We had just been reading the 2 books of Kings, and when you read or study them, you may realize that the wives are the ones who led Solomon away from worshipping God properly. Wives are very strong influences on men. Even throughout history, wives have played important roles behind the scenes, when we didn't have the right to vote, women influenced history!! Did you know that Abigail Adams wrote an influential letter to her husband about treating women equally?? Yep.
NOTE: this does NOT pertain to couples who both work outside the home. This is specifically addressing a woman who gets to stay home and be the homemaker.
Being a Godly wife is important, but I am now more tuned in to making sure my sons know that a Godly wife is very important for them as well.
Written by,
Good post, honey! I'm glad that our children get to see an example of a wife and mother that hasn't swallowed the cultural bait.
ReplyDeleteI respect your beliefs on this. Blessed is the wife whose husband comes home and pitches in, too; I think staying home is often harder than going to work (and I've done both, so I know :) Thankfully, my husband loves to cook!
ReplyDeletewhen i listen to my BFF tell me about getting her little boys out the door in the morning and having to be presentable in a professional environment on top of all the stuff she has to do at home, i feel like i get a bit of the easy road ;-)
ReplyDeleteif both folks are working, then they both should pitch in, i totally agree with you!! and i love it when my hubby takes up the laundry. he really leads the way on getting the kids to pitch in with cleaning the house. i usually run out of energy on that one ;-) your hubby sounds like a sweet heart, all the things you have posted about him. a good catch in men is worth more than..... well, they don't wear rubies.... a good power drill??? a jetted tub??? i am going to come up with a mirror of the good husband ;-)