The Wise Woman

TODAY's DEVOTION I received in an email:
The Wise Woman

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own
hands the foolish one tears hers down." Proverbs 14:1

How do you build your house?

We all have a mental picture of how we want our
"house" to be: in other words how our kids should
behave, how our husband will respond to our needs,
how orderly our lives are, etc. Did you know that
even though our goals may be right, our labor may
be in vain?

For example, we may want to build a close family,
but instead of nurturing those relationships with
patience and understanding, we tear them down with
judgment and criticism. Although we desire to enjoy
our children, we schedule ourselves crazy toting
them around to so may events, games and practices
that we fall into bed exhausted at night and wake
up one morning wondering where 18 years and our
children went.

God created us women to be the "suitable helper"
- the completer - of our husband. But instead of
building him up to be all God made him to be,
we get too busy trying to fix him! Instead of
trusting God to grow him up spiritually we try
to be his Holy Spirit. Instead of exhorting him
to be the leader of the family God called him to be,
we insist on controlling or manipulating him.

Have you been building your house with love and
encouragement? Are you like warm sunshine when
your kids find you after a long day? When your
hubby comes home, weary from slaying dragons all
day, are you like a breath of fresh air for him?

Build your house like the wise woman: Bite your
tongue more, smile more. Slow down. Laugh more.
Listen lots more. Become their biggest fan.
Encourage often. Then your house will go up brick
by beautiful brick, The peaceful, happy place
your family wants to come home to.

Remember the three little pigs? The one who built
his house with bricks was wise: although the wolf
huffed and puffed, his house stood strong. Yours
will too - for generations to come - if you don't
tear it down first.

~Sandra