By Contributing Writer, Chelsey Hall
We as women, think of ourselves as mothers, teachers, nurses and so on, but God says that we are builders. We usually relegate this role to the men, but we are building with something far greater than brick and timber.
Nancy Campbell, The Power of Motherhood: What the Bible Says about Mothers.
Builders
I never thought of myself as a builder. Honestly, I’m not even that great with the power tools – I leave that to my man.
But wait! There is some building that we can’t leave to our men. Check this out…
Every wise woman builds her home, but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:1
We are charged with building our homes!
Go back and reread that one more time. That one little scripture gives us an INCREDIBLE amount to chew on and digest.
There are four main words here that jump out and grab me.. wise, builds, foolish, plucks. Remember back in school when you had to figure out those analogies (I HATED those). If we were to arrange those words in an analogy, it would look something like this:
wise : builds :: foolish : plucks
In other words, with wisdom we are builders of our homes, but with foolishness we are pluckers!
Look at the insight that James gives us about wisdom:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18
James gives us some amazing foundations for building our homes with the Wisdom that comes from our heavenly Father.
We should be building homes that are:
Pure
Peaceful
Loving
Considerate
Submissive
Full of mercy
Full of good fruit
Impartial
Sincere
I don’t know about you, but this little crash course in home-building has shown me that I have some cracks in my foundation that need to be repaired!
How are you building your home?
About Chelsey Hall
One other thing that stood out to me about this verse and concept while reading this entry is that the fool *plucks* her house down with her hands. She isn’t going crazy, doing obvious damage in huge chunks and fell swoops. It made me think of plucking a chicken (which, I must confess, I’ve never done): that first feather feels like it doesn’t make a huge difference. And plucking one little feather at a time, you’re not going to see any real results from even systematic plucking. But just like the “plucking” we may do – to everyone’s detriment – in our homes, you one moment step back and are shocked with how much progress (with the chicken) or destruction (within the home) you have wrought. And the chicken cannot be restored, just as our time cannot, but praise God that though we cannot recover time, by His grace we can repair cracks in our foundation.
Good, good stuff here. Thank you.
What a GREAT analogy Lauren! Yes, it is a slow process that doesn’t necessarily happen over night, but one day you look and the damage is severe. Reminds me of the song by Casting Crowns: Slow Fade!
Thank you for this amazing article!! Wow it has really helped me to view the work of building a home in a very different light. I always wondered about that verse too. I wondered how the wise woman built her home. You have used the wisdom of heaven to write this article!
Gretchen, wow. Thank you for your kind words. I am glad that the Lord was able to speak through me to minister to your heart!