She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Prov 31:27
I just love this scripture. this is one of my many 'call to arms' verses that I cling to. The ESV version puts it like this... she looks over..., just as precious in my eyes is this word 'looks'. Both words either - watches or looks are words that demand action. When I first discovered this little gem I did a word search in the thesaurus. 'Watch' had words such as attend to, concentrate on, keep your eyes on associated with it. This morning when I searched the thesaurus for 'looked' I found- gaze, glare, goggle and leer. On a more biblical search I found the meanings to be - hedge about, to peer into the distance, to behold, wait for and to keep watch.
18 years ago I become a mother, the ability to watch and look came natural to me. I could loose hours just watching Drew sleep! In fact that is a gift I still have to this day and it will most likely still linger when I am a grandmother. 14 years ago God called me and saved me from my miserable life. There is a different kind of watching that happens when you mother as a Christian. As Ephesians 6:12-13 says, We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the armour of God..... my 'looking' over the affairs of my household is crucial, it is powerful, it is expected, it is fruit and evidence of my love, it is also generational. God has called mothers and wives to this and be sure that He has enabled us. With my three older children now at school my role has not lessened but the bar has been raised. My priorities have shifted and there is now an outside focus, 'watching and looking', that now happens. I rejoice that He has enabled these changes in me. I rejoice in how much more I need Him. Do you know how your children are spiritually? Do you share your faith regularly? Do you know what they are reading? What they are listening to? Who their friends are? What about there time on the net? If they have mobile phones, do you know what sites they frequent? How often do you talk with them? I know lots of people that think that their good and moral children are doing fine as long as they are obeying or keeping under the radar. Believe me none of that is Biblical. God expects more of us as parents. My children have met some really broken and sad kids over the past 3 weeks. It breaks my heart to think that these little ones are in so much pain. What is so important that it leads to the breakdown of your child? Some of the saddest and most rebellious children are from christian homes. WHOA! What are the fathers doing? What are the mothers so busy with that they are not detecting these things?
Some christians trust in wacky religious people that write books on how to abuse your kids without detection and call it 'training up a child', people that instruct you on how to keep all your little ducks in a row and as long as your children are sitting quietly in church then you have made it. Others use child psychology books and chat shows, talk back radio etc.. I feel so sorry for them, their marriages and their children. As christians our only text book on raising children should be the Bible. Paul and I have read other books that have helped us to understand our children in other ways but these books are always Gospel soaked and never religious and outward appearance focused. Ted Tripp and Paul Tripp have been helpful in our home.
As a child myself once, I walked a path that day by day led me away from home and onto my own path. As a daughter of God, however, every step I take is deeper into Him. Every morning I wake up I run into His arms, in desperate need of His will, His lead and His love. As a Christian wife and mother with a call to watch over the ways of my household, I am not to eat the bread of idleness, I know full well this means more then having a clean house and tucking my kids into bed each night with a prayer and a kiss!
Firstly, I must walk in obedience to God. I must walk in the Spirit. I must walk repentantly. I have to be constantly prayerful and another thing I do is to think generationally. What legacy will I leave my children and my great grandchildren? How will my faith affect my generations? So many preachers talk about the 'things' we leave our children and I have always disagreed in part.
For example, the Christian father in Haiti that now has nothing left but his faith, his children and the clothes on their backs. (See Mark Driscoll's 32 hours in Haiti sermon.) How is a house and possessions going to help that family now? How will the law of reaping and sowing now touch the lives of those little ones? If that mother had faith in the One true God. If she believed in the Son that became God in the flesh and died for her sins, Jesus. If she shared this truth with her family during her daily walk. If she poured her life out for her family. If she had prayed and educated and worshipped and looked and watched well after the ways of her household, then I believe that the inheritance that she left is incorruptible and imperishable. Her family will lift their hands up in worship to the God that claimed her life that day and that still washes over them with the same love that held her.
So lets raise up holy hands and offer praise, glory, love and thanks to the One that called us, set us apart and gave us the name sons and daughters. Gave us the name 'mummy', honey or sweet heart (or whatever your husband calls you) Lets not eat the bread of idleness and lets seek Him on how to best look well to the ways of our household. Our household, not our friends household. But lets look well to the ways of our 'own'. Lets fight for our husbands our children and our generations. Lets pray and believe that those sleepless nights we have are our Father calling us to pray and intercede (2 Cor 6:5, 11:27) Lets love our husbands passionately. Lets be theologians and spiritually stimulating for our husbands. Lets cook like we are cooking for Jesus Himself. Lets dance, play and sing. And do all to the glory of God. Lets live for the Saviour that is coming back, that sustains us as mothers and that will have our household (not our material possessions - but our real household) stand before Him on that great and terrible day.
Bless you all and may you seek Him every minute of your day. His is the strength that endures and the joy that can not be diminished.
I love you.
