The Time and Heart of an Excellent Wife

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. Proverbs 12:4

I think in all reality, that is my most serious fear concerning marriage--that I would be rottenness in my husband's bones. It is disheartening to think that I can do that to someone I love. 

In light of that, I should turn inward to focus on cultivating godly character so that I can be an excellent wife, instead of daydreaming about becoming a wife. That can be rather difficult to do at our age. O Lord, help me turn my heart from men to You. I am already complete in You. Help me cling to You as I seek to become like You in all things.

Currently, I am struggling with two sins:

1. My irresponsible use of time
2. My self-serving heart

These are important in an excellent wife because her use of time and the posture of her heart will either stimulate or inhibit her family's growth. My self-serving heart will lead me to indulge my flesh in sleeping a little longer, in relaxing a little longer, in spending a little more time or money on myself. Sure, there are times when these are wise choices to make, but your conscience knows when you're being wise and when you're being indulgent.

When I dawdle with time, I am pushing back my responsibilities to temporal things (vacuuming, doing homework, etc.) which still have to be done. So when I finally get to work on these things, I have already given up opportunities to invest in cultivating my relationships with my family members. Because I am now behind in my family relationships, how can I even think about serving in the Church or community?

 

My Irresponsible Use of Time
I am letting myself slip into unproductiveness in my morning hours of devotions and homework. My weekends tend to feel like a holiday from schoolwork. Instead of doing as much as I can in a day, I float along, stretching out a small workload to fill the day instead of finishing it quickly and starting on whatever else I must do, because there is never such a thing as having nothing to do.

My Self-Serving Heart
I waste time, yet am frustrated when my dad asks me to do something for him, under the pretense that I do not have time to help him. Help me cultivate selflessness and higher concern for the needs of my family.



O Lord, please forgive me for these sins. Jesus used all His time on earth to do Your bidding, to lay His life down for the Church. How far I am from Christ-likeness.



O Lord, help me set You before me so that I may always remember Your grace towards me and strive for excellence in my character, because You are excellent. 








Who can discern his errors? 
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:12-14

Here's a sad song about a woman who is rottenness in her husband's bones. At least, I hope he's her husband, but judging by society today...he probably isn't...

And here's something that'll be much more useful to you. It's from among Pastor Briggs' reruns. It's what got me thinking about this in the first place.

Choosing a Spouse of Godly Character