What a wise woman builds...

This week I re-read Proverbs 14 and was struck again by the power of this verse:

A wise woman builds her house, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

Prov. 14:1

When I was 10-years-old my family built a house. My dad did the building, but we all contributed. I carried 2×4′s and swept up messes and my brother drove nails and my mom did whatever Dad asked. I can still picture my mom holding up plywood while Dad shot it full of nails. (I also remember, on a freezing cold morning, when he nail-gunned his hand to the plywood. That was a day.)

But my mom was always there holding something up.

Can you imagine if she’d been doing the opposite? If she’d been walking around the house tearing down fixtures or taking a sledgehammer to whatever work Dad had just finished. Or now, can you imagine if I walked around our house with a baseball bat smashing windows and knocking over furniture?

A wise woman builds her house.

It doesn’t say “A wise woman builds her business” Or “a wise woman builds her church” or “a wise woman builds her friendship-base” or “a wise woman builds her blog.” All those things are wonderful, but our first order of business, ladies, is building up our house.

There’s a reason God’s put this verse on my heart.

Because I need to be reminded.

Why is there such a constant temptation to build up everything except our homes? Perhaps because our homes are so mundane, so ordinary. The home is a humble kingdom, to be sure. It needs a queen who is small in her own eyes.

So if the woman’s not building, what is she doing?

Tearing down. How? With her own hands.

How sobering is this? Woman, we have so much power. The words we speak, the attitude we embody, the choices me make a thousands times a day. Everything we do is either building up or tearing down our house. With our own hands.

Am I creating order and beauty or chaos and confusion? Am I building up or tearing down?

A simple question to return to each day: Does this activity benefit my home and the people who live in it?

There are myriad reasons why houses fall apart. But this verse highlights the most important factor:

Our hands. We can blame society, peer pressure, culture and bad TV. But our hands are what build up or tear down our homes. Our words, our attitudes, the work we do each day. So the question for us:

What are my own hands doing today? Am I building up or tearing down?

{Come what may, let’s commit to building up our homes. Amen? Thanks for reading.}

16 thoughts on “What a wise woman builds…”

This was what I needed to read today. Thank you! I’ll be writing this scripture where I can read it constantly to remind myself of what a task the Lord has given me in my home.

After a rough weekend, I really need to read this. As wives/mothers we have so much power to do good or to cause damage. Kind of like super heros, I guess? I want to be the kind of woman who intentionally builds her home. Thank you for the reminder!!

Thank you Kari! I’m so greatful to have read this today.

I NEEDED this today Kari. I just wish I would have read it this morning as a reminder before I started this day. Praise the Lord we are new every morning! No more tearing down…thanks for helping me refocus.
p.s. We talked to your Dad at the gas station after church…he is awesome…but he said what a wonderful time he had with you and your family. What a blessing to travel like that together!

Oh Kari,
I so needed this today, this week! Thank you. You are a gift!

This hits REALLY close to home. Really. Again, I’m pretty sure you’re in my head, knowing exactly what I need to hear. 😉 I’m definitely creating some unnecessary chaos. 🙁

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“A wise woman builds her friendship-base,” sent me into a fit of nervous laughter. This was SO what I needed to read today. Thank you, friend!

You spoke my heart here, Kari <3. I needed this today. Thank you. And a special thank you to Lacey for "bringing" me here to hear this. Words cannot express <3.

Thanks for this powerful reminder!

Amen! This reminds me of a book I just read called Speak Love by Annie F Downs. Our words are so powerful, learning this…

I think these words apply to the house when it’s a home or the place where you work.
You wrote these words for me today Kari. As a reminder. Relevant words for all of us.
Thank you for your continued faithfulness.