A Prudent Wife

A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping rain. House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.  Proverbs 19:13-14

Today is my mom’s birthday. She would have turned 68 today, which doesn’t seem all that old. And yet, she’s already been gone 24 years. How that much time has passed, I have no idea.

I’ve been reading one chapter of Proverbs each day of January and these verses made me think of my mom. She lived daily with an alcoholic who failed at being a good husband and father in so many ways. She could have nagged and picked quarrels with him every day. Most people probably would have thought her justified.

Yet, she was prudent. I remember her talking to him about it, calling him out on it, and standing her ground on some things that were extremely important. But she didn’t nag or cause quarrels. And that’s not an easy thing when someone close to you is in sin!

It made me think about how I want my home life to be. I want my husband to want to come home to me. I want my kids to feel peace in our home.

That doesn’t mean we don’t address hard things. We need to! But the way we do that matters. We can address conflict, sin, and behavior issues with calmness and grace without backing down on what we believe in.

This isn’t easy for me at all. I tend towards anger and can jump the gun on conversations because I get heated. My hubby is so good at this and I’m learning from him. And my mom was so good at it too. I remember feeling like I could go to her with anything and trust she’d listen and talk it through without just getting angry with me.

I hope and pray I can emulate her! And as I read through Proverbs I hope and pray it sinks in and changes my heart to reflect Christ more and more in my roles as wife and mother.