The Wise Woman

I try to read one chapter of Proverbs a day - since there are 31 chapters, it is easy to read through the whole book in a month and just start over again at the beginning of next month.  And it only takes a couple of minutes since they are so short.  But those short chapters contain a vast amount of wisdom.  My dad, a pastor, said the other day, that he is amazed at how he learns something new every time he reads through Proverbs even though he has been doing it for years.  If you aren't doing this already, I highly recommend it - I promise you, you will learn something.

Anyways, I explained all of this, because today's Proverb hit me like a slap in the face.  So much so, that I set aside my daily study and instead studied the 1st verse of Proverbs 14. 

Proverbs 14:1 - The wise woman builds her house, / But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

I read that a couple of times and asked myself the obvious question: Am I building my house up or am I tearing it down?

The answer? Depends on the day. 

I'm not okay with that answer.  Justin and I are currently attending two couples classes together, yep, you heard right, not one, but two!  :)  And I am participating in a woman's study.  That's 3 times a week that I hear about what my role is, how I can do better, and how I'm doing well already.  It gets me thinking an awful lot, and maybe that is why this verse jumped off of the page, danced in front of me, and then proceeded to slap me in the face saying, "Here's your wake up call!"  

Everything I'm learning boils down to this - am I building my house up or am I tearing it down?

When I wrote out my thoughts, I made a couple of lists:

Tearing down = nagging, whining, yelling, sulking, lying, cheating, avoiding

Building up = encouraging, thanking, loving, complimenting, supporting

These lists are, by no means, exhaustive, but they are a beginning.  If I were to evaluate all of my actions in a day, put each action in the "tearing down" or "building up" list - which would be longer?  Would most days in the week have a longer "tearing down" list?  Or am I constantly building, adding a brick here and some mortar there??

I want my "building up" list to be the longest list always, ever day.  I want my house to be on a firm foundation, put together with love, and made to last.  But that means I need to make some changes.  I might have to start out small but if I can put one brick up instead of taking one down in a day - I'm on the right track!  No one said she built her house quickly, it says she builds her house - meaning it is a constant process!  Slow and stead wins the race.  Slow to anger that is...  ;)

So who's with me?  Here's to less nagging, less whining, more encouraging, and more loving.  Let's go get our yellow hard hats and get to building!  :D