The Word was with God, Is God, Is Love, And the Importance of Being an Excellent Wife

My mother always taught to be careful of the words you speak out, that words have power. When God created the heavens and the earth, God SAID, "Let there be light." (Genesis 1:30) He didn't create light from His hands, He SPOKE it. John tells us in verse 1 of chapter 1 of his gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." While I won't pretend to understand everything (or even most) of what I'm sure that really means, I can at the very least, read the outermost meaning - God is the Word - so words must matter. I found this great video offering an idea of the God being Love being Truth being the Word.

And this video which tells of how we should be living IN THE Word, which is living in God. Just this part of my study is probably enough for today's blog!! wow!

Also, God tells us to carry his Word with us in our hearts. His word, most times, we think of as the bible, but John tells us it is also God.. and we learn through reading the bible to keep God in our hearts! So, follow me here... God is the Word, the bible is the Word, God's Word is the bible, and we're to keep both God and the Word of God in our hearts!! oooohh, I just got chills!
                                A=God                                                              B=Word

                                C= keep in our hearts                                      D=Bible
It's been a long, trying past 6 months to a year. When you have a life verse/chapter such as James 1, it can offer you amazing guidelines and help at almost any point for almost any situation. It's almost like "Christian living: 101." But it can also be pretty heavy. And it got me thinking, am I creating more struggles by claiming this verse/passage as "my" verse? This is where the whole power of the word comes into play.

Consider it Pure JOY when you encounter various trials... When you start out your day saying these words, are you encouraging yourself to be prepared to praise God no matter what happens that day OR are you sort of setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy that you WILL encounter various trials!? hmmm...

So, I thought I would take my mind "off" that passage for a while and do something a bit more upbeat and cheerful. Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying, "Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all." Proverbs 31:28,29  THAT'S WHAT I WANT!! Sign me up!

Well, there's only one problem with that... context. When read in context, it's just as heavy as James. Where James 1 might be "How to be a good Christian: 101," Proverbs 31 (in context, you must read 10-23) would be "How to be the perfect Christian WIFE: 101." Cuz, no pressure there, right?!

I mean, the world - and SOCIAL MEDIA & BLOGS - are everywhere telling me how to be the perfect wife/mother/woman. I must work-out to be skinny. I must work outside the home, preferably making at least as much, if not more than, my husband. I must wear high heels and make-up and have my hair done perfectly at all times. I must be a superb chef, preparing all my meals in above-mentioned heels. I bake for family get-togethers, and when the church needs me I am there with my largest smile. I must laugh with my friends (which means I must have time to have friends!). And I must be a volunteer with the PTA, the local food pantry, the Pet Shelter, and buy lattes for the person in line behind me. And of course, be present when your family arrives home, looking like you spent the day resting.

With that as the world's standard, I can only imagine what God's standard must be, right? The Proverbs 31 woman must be impossible, so why try? Why bother? Being the "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" kind of gal I am, I was reminded of a saying I heard which I enjoy and tell my children. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." - Brian Littrell

And with that I began reading: 10: An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels 11: The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. I've been working on reading a book on Winston Churchill, who is renowned for loving his wife abundantly. He said this:

10: An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. a cross-reference here to Proverbs 12:4 says "an excellent wife is THE CROWN of her husband" (emphasis mine). Crowns show the king's wealth: a small crown = a small kingdom, a large crown = a large kingdom. Crowns also represent the king's power, legitimacy, victory, triumph, honor, and glory. WOW! If that doesn't make you reconsider the importance you play in your husband's life, I don't know what would. Finally, the crown is the last thing a monarch would put on... the icing on the cake, the crown on the king... the wife/crown is what completes him, to sound very Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire" -esque.

11: The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.  This one is pretty deep. Whether we stay-at-home, work-from-home, work-at-work, or whatever, we are, I believe, wives first. The importance of the biblical, Godly wife is so critical, and so underplayed, and condemned in today's world; instead of being held in high regard and great esteem, she is scorned and belitted.

I used to jokingly say (used to, as in up until this very moment), that being a biblical wife was easy. God says we're in authority to our husbands, so all I have to do is obey him, whether I agree with his decisions or not, and that is for what I will answer to God on judgment day. It is the husband, who must make decisions for the family, who must stand before God on judgement day and answer for those decisions.  God calls us to be under the authority of our husbands but here God tells us we have much to do with our husband's success! When the wife is excellent (UGH! WHEN the wife is excellent.. and didn't the verse above say, "an excellent wife, WHO CAN FIND?!?) no pressure there..

But when the wife IS excellent, the husband will have no lack of gain.. that doesn't mean that he'll gain weight at home cuz she's an excellent cook! That means, that when a wife is trustworthy (reliable, dependable, honest, honorable, upright, principled, true, truthful, as good as her word, ethical, virtuous, incorruptible, unimpeachable, above suspicion), the husband will be successful in all other areas of life.

Do you hear this? Are you as convicted of this as I am? This is a hard one to swallow, God. So, not only do I have to excellent in order to have my husband's trust (wait! did you see that one?! It slipped through without us discussing it... I need to be excellent in order to for him to trust me? It doesn't just happen?!? another truth bomb to digest!)

So, not only do I have to be excellent (and an excellent wife, who can find?) to earn my husband's trust, I am also called to be excellent as a Christian (as we all are), and now I am told that the success of my husband, and ultimately my entire family, relies on my ability to be an excellent wife. I need some time to digest that one..

I will end today's entry on a sweet note about marriage, as we ponder all that God asks of us as wives, in just these first 2 verses of my "light word of study..." About marriage it is written in Matthew 10: 4-6, "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate."  If we are no longer 2, but are now 1, as God's WORD commands, then our desire to be an excellent wife is the same as being an excellent woman of God/the Word/Words. (don't get me started on that one again!)