Making a House a Home ~ Avoiding the Negatives

We've studied ways how to build our home, but let's not ignore the last half of our verse from Proverbs 14:1 ~ "the foolish [woman] pulls it down with her hands".

When I think of pulling a house down, my mind goes to the TV series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". You know where I'm going with this. Bulldozers, wrecking balls, and zealous people eagerly smash, rip, and tear down what used to be a house. Do you notice it doesn't take long to ruin it? One bash of wrecking ball, and the house is no longer a place of shelter. It's open to the elements, unstable, and unfit to live in.

So how can a woman destroy her own home? "First, a woman can cause great damage actively: by working destruction." Mrs. George writes. This is usually uncontrolled anger. "It throws, it slams, it tears, and it rips. It also breaks things as well as rules." Doing these things is destructive enough, but "anger out of control also speaks words that break, destroy, ruin, and kill."

Not only can a woman destroy her home actively, but by being too passive ~ simply failing to work. Failing to follow through with our duties as homemakers erodes the foundation of our home. Laziness, neglect, forgetfulness, putting things off, and not spending enough time at home tears our homes down brick by brick. Also included in this is ignoring our duties while we are at home by watching extended times of TV, surfing the Internet for hours at a time, reading "just one more chapter", and spending too much time on the phone.

Let me continue with the parallel I wrote earlier. Remember the wrecking ball? With one whack, a house is suddenly unfit for people to dwell there. Just like that house, the woman who tears down her home with active or passive destruction is leaving her family at risk ~ exposed to the elements (a sinful world) in a home that is unstable (by either her neglect or uncontrolled anger) and unfit to live in (a stressful, uncomfortable place).

I must confess that I've been convicted with this post. All too often, I tear down what I spend so much time trying to build ~ with my impatience or selfishness! Mrs. George gives three steps to remember when building a home:

1. Avoid any attitude or act that doesn't build your home. (In other words, self-control!)
2. Decide to begin building. It's never too late!
3. Each day, do one thing to build your home. (Outwardly, like cleaning up clutter or inwardly, like giving a soft answer.)

She concludes with this thought, "Search your heart and your home. Which of these two women is most like you? Where are you placing your focus and investing your energy? Look beneath the cleaning and cooking to your heart."