The Proverbs Woman . . . or Not!
Her children arise and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28
The morning started out like any typical Sunday morning in our household. I went around waking up each of the girls, letting them know that we needed to leave at 8:45 to make it to church so that I would be there early enough to greet my little second graders for Bible study. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed for the shower. As I was getting out of the shower I could hear the yelling coming from the bedrooms.
“Come on, girls, let’s please not do this today!” I said to two of them as they made faces at each other. I should have figured out that it would go downhill from there.
One didn’t want to take a bath, one couldn’t find her shoes, one didn’t like her outfit. The elusive peacefulness that had greeted us at the dawn of the day was suddenly lost. I could feel the words coming up and spewing from my mouth before I could stop them.
“Girls! I am so sick of this! Why can’t you for once just get along? I am just sick of this!”
The car ride to church was silent. No one dared breathe a word for fear that it would provoke the soul-splitting, heart-crushing hammer to spew forth once again. As I drove in the terrible silence, God began to speak to my heart. How could I speak like that to them? What were my words doing to them? My words were hurtful, not glorifying or uplifting. The Spirit reminded me that these girls are a gift from heaven’s throne to my home, from God’s heart to mine.
Oh, that was enough, but God wasn’t finished with me. He brought to my mind that special verse in Proverbs. He pierced my heart with the thought, “When I died, would my girls rise up and call me blessed?”
My heart yearns to be the woman that elicits such honor from her children. I long to allow Christ to shape my heart and my words, so that my life sings for His pleasure. I prayed that day and each day that the song of my life saturates the souls of my girls with lyrics of love and shapes their hearts to hope in Christ.
Father, please hear the desire of my heart to be a woman of virtue and honor. May I walk in a manner worthy of You to please You in all respects. In the name of Jesus, amen.