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A Joyful Wife… What a Gift!
pamela
spurling
Are you careful and troubled about many things?
Have you ever lamented that you just can’t figure out
what gift to buy or make your husband for Christmas?
Maybe your family doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas
in the traditional sense or maybe gift-giving isn’t part
of your celebrations. Or, maybe, your family does
celebrate with decorating, gift giving, parties and
special foods. Whichever way it goes for you—even if
you don’t actually exchange presents—chances are that
you annually face that conundrum of what to get for your
husband.
I know that I so often wish I could buy this or that
thing for my husband or that I had sewn something
special for him but the days whisk by, and in the midst
of all the everyday needs, somehow things I really
wanted to do don’t get done. Then I regret and often
that regret or remorse obscures what’s really important
or what’s really needful.
There’s a wonderful thing that seems to be a secret or
something that fails to be acknowledged as an amply
sufficient and worthy gift and that’s a gift of
service. Now, by this, I don’t mean promises of service
or “service coupons” or other ways people say
they’ll serve, but a genuine act of service with the
intent to be lavishly pleasing and fulfilling a need or
desire. I don’t know any husband who wouldn’t be
pleased by a wife’s genuine gift of service—helpful work
or act of kindness. Remember: kindness is an attribute
we want to acquire and aspire to use or emanate. In
Proverbs 31 we see this marvelous quality in the
virtuous woman: (26-28)
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue
is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of
her household,
and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children
arise up,
and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth
her.
Kindness mustn’t be reserved for an occasional act.
Kindness is a way of living and therefore it’s something
we need to aspire to emulate. So how does this play
into gift giving? It’s a kindness for a wife to look
well to the ways of her household and it’s a kindness
for her to anticipate the needs of her household and
more, it’s a blessing when a wife looks for ways to
fulfill needs and even unspoken requests. More, it’s a
blessing to a husband for a wife to not put off doing
those things that most help her husband. So, this
Christmas, think of a gift that you can give your
husband that would bless him beyond words. Think of
things that he has been hoping you’ll take care of or
things he needs to have done but they’ve been put off
for whatever reason. Think of ways you might pamper
him—being lavish with your time and attention focused
specifically on him. Spend time in prayer… resting at
the feet of the LORD. He will direct your path and your
preparations.
You might think (as many women do) if you do all this
“attending” to your husband, what’ll be in it for you?
Will he come to expect you to act like this all the
time? Will he take advantage of your loving
generosity? You may be thinking of your own excuses
right about now—you might even be recalling times you
did special things and you weren’t appreciated. Think
of this: what if you were to love your husband as unto
the LORD? What if you were to bless him as unto the LORD
(and as the LORD has blessed you!)? You may want
to be attentive to him but there are so many things to
do… so many places to go and so many commitments. You
might be troubled about many things. 1 Peter 3.1-5 will
be a source of great inspiration and encouragement to
you.
In the days ahead you might consider your modus
operandi, your tendencies when special occasions near
and consider (for the sake of your family) how you tend
to react. Do you tend to angrily bark orders? Do you
tend to murmur about what you have to do and how little
help (or time) you have to accomplish it all?
You know, sort of like Martha getting all caught up in
the serving—the cooking, cleaning, preparations and…
murmuring about it all. We know that in that case,
Jesus was lovingly addressing her need—aware that she
was troubled about many things, he assured her that only
one thing was needed: she needed to *rest* in the LORD
and attend to hearing His Word.
Women are often quick to point out that if she hadn’t
done all the needful things, who would have?? *Someone
* needs to do the work. Sure they do, and Jesus
actually acknowledged that by showing awareness of her
troubles but He was also showing her that what she was
doing was *troubling* her and was not done in restful
adoration or service to Him. Mary’s actions were in
adoration and service—it’s just that when someone is
sitting at the feet of Jesus it might seem to
others to be a waste of time and yet, if done in
sincerity and in truth, that sitting at the feet of
Jesus and hearing His Word will be of great value. The
benefit of that time spent sitting at the feet of Jesus
hearing His Word, will be reflected in the time of
serving. Instead of being troubled and careful about
many things, you will have chosen that good
part—remember? that part that can’t be taken away.
So when you’re going about the preparations and serving,
let it be seen in you that you have chosen the good
part: that you have been sitting at the feet of Jesus,
hearing His Word. That good part won’t be taken from
you and you’ll be giving your husband and family one of
the best gifts of all: a wife whose price is far above
rubies.
A joyful wife… what a gift.
many blessings,
(¨`·.·´¨)
`·.¸(¨`·.·´¨)
`·.¸.·´pamela spurling … joyful about quite a lot.
achristianhome.com © 2006
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