Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Housewife's Promise

"Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." (Psl.68:13)

If you open my Bible to this verse in Psalms, you will find these words next to the text: "The Housewife's Promise." If you are a housewife (or, rather, a "home engineer"), you may feel as though you have lain among pots and pans for most of your life! Whether they're cooking pots or cleaning pots, they play a major part in our lives as wives and mothers. Unfortunately, they never seem to conjure up pictures of glamour and gentility in the mind. Yet, if they are a part of God's will for your life, we can be sure they carry a dignity all their own. I think it was Andrew Murray who said, "The lowliness of a work never lowers the person. The person elevates the work and imparts his own worth to the most meager of services."

The beauty we find in the rest of the verse belies any thought one may have that housewifery is anything less than the noblest of occupations. David compares those of us who labor tirelessly among these humble utensils of service to an ornate dove with silver wings and golden feathers. Is this not elegance enough for the most genteel among us?

As a wife and/or mother, whatever our other accomplishments in life may be, domestic success brings a pride that no amount of pooh-poohing can diminish (feminists notwithstanding). There is great reward connected with these pots and pans and brooms and dust cloths. Not in themselves, perhaps, but for the ministry to those most dear to us that they represent. That’s why we read in the previous verse that while kings and armies were fighting and fleeing, “she that tarried at home divided the spoil." And what a rich “spoil” it is!

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