Skip to main content

Listen Up, Mothers!


A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. (Proverbs 31:10, 27-28)
               Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and as usual, I got to the actual day before remembering that I should say something about the holiday. That’s OK because no doubt mothers in churches across the land will be informed about how they should behave. Maybe that’s changed, but it was the case for long enough in my life that it’s what I associate with church on Mother’s Day… mothers being browbeaten. This isn’t the only celebration used to lecture the celebrants. Father’s Day was used to either lecture fathers, or to lecture children about being better children. Naturalization court is used by many to lecture people who have just completed the training necessary to become citizens about how to be good citizens. 
                But, getting back to today’s passage. For many people – including me – Proverbs 31:10-31 tends to be just another in the long line of passages that tell women all about how they need to do so much more. Recently, someone pointed out the obvious.  If you back up to verses 1 and 2, you’ll find that the chapter is part of what Lemuel (AKA Solomon)’s mother taught him about a good wife. The instruction, then, is as much for husbands as it is for wives. Maybe more so. And it is for children as much as for mothers. Maybe more so. 
                She tells him that while he’s sitting in the gate or palace, conducting his manly business, his wife is at home, seeing to the household, handling the family business as if it were hers alone, being charitable, and doing lots of things that make him look good. And, she adds, as a husband, and as a child, it was his duty to praise her in public because she does all these things. And he was to teach his children to praise her in public as well because she does all these things. 
                Yes, that requires that she step up to the plate, but on this day after Mother’s Day, let me suggest that a husband who brags on what a wonder woman his wife is will likely have a wife who at least becomes worthy of his praise.  So, to all you mothers out there, and to all the mother wanna-bes, and all the good wives. I applaud you.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more