Focus

She looketh well to the ways of her household... Provebs 31:27

What does it really mean to "look well to the ways of our household"?

Sometimes - most of the time, really - I wish I knew more about the Bible than I do now. By the grace of God I'm learning more all the time, but it never seems fast enough!

So... what does "looking well to the ways of our household" mean?

Could mean housework - keeping everything with the four walls clean and neat.

Could mean focusing on our families - the true household.

I'm thinking it has something to do with both; after all, if we are focusing on our family, we'll want them to have pleasant environments.

Wait a minute.

Did I just write "focusing on our family"? I sure did. Hmm... That's a phrase that requires an explanation.

Families aren't to be our focus. Really. God is to be our focus. There's a family friendly movement today that has started as a reaction to the anti-family culture that surrounds us. It's good that so many folks want to get back to honoring the most important and basic unit God has made - the family.

...But sometimes I wonder if we've forgotten the why of everything.

Why do we want to honor families in the first place? Because they are something God has ordained as the building blocks of nations and cultures.
Why do we need to have strong families? So that we can have strong churches.
Why do we need obedient children? Because that's the fifth commandment.
Why do we need submissive wives and loving husbands? Because it's commanded in scripture.

I have found myself guilty of sometimes acting almost as if I were following a cult that has a long list of dos and don'ts; do learn to love the home, don't send your children off to be raised by the government, do love being a woman, don't desire a selfish career....

...And forgetting the why.


But other times, I fall in love with my Saviour all over again, and suddenly life isn't a list of rules; it's an abundant adventure of fervent devotion and delight. It's ....well, I really have a hard time describing it all. But it's not a bunch of rules that I check off. It's a love and devotion that permeates my every thought. Suddenly, the ruler by which I measure all my actions and beliefs isn't "what am I suppose to think about this? Let me see if I can remember what I've been taught..." but instead it's "how does He feel about this?" These two thought patterns might lead to the same end, but they take two totally different ways of getting there.

So when I read in Scripture that the Lord considers a woman who looks well to the ways of her household to be virtuous and worthy of praise, then that becomes my desire. To look well. To really look. To spend time working on "my" household. To imitate my mother's devotion to the cause of being a godly woman.

To do everything I can that will cause my Lord to smile on me.

And when that causes me to focus on my family...then I am really still focusing on Jesus.