Proverbs 14:1 – “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.”

Yesterday was Mother’s Day.

Truth is, all women are mothers in the broadest sense, even if they do not have children. A mother is made when something is birthed and nurtured. Usually, this is a child, but all women have the ability to birth things and nurture them. Ideas, careers, decisions, and friendships. We labor and produce something in our life. We nurture and grow it until it becomes something great. We give it value, time, love, and support.

As a woman, we have the opportunity to impact so many people in our lives. Not just our immediate family, but others around us. We can pour into them with love and grace and help nurture them to become the best they can be. We can also manipulate, disregard, or pull back from others in an effort to shut them down. Women seem to the best at giving emotion to others without saying a word; positive or negative, it is clear.

We all have houses. Not just physical dwellings but the place where we are comfortable. Our “house” of friends and social connections, our immediate family, our church, all these can be part of our house.

Is how we’re living building our house or tearing it down? Is the house becoming more full of life and love, or are there cracks in the foundation and tiles getting picked off the roof? Finding faults comes easy (at least to me!) but finding the best in those around us might take more effort. We see others based on our interpretation of things without fully understanding what they may be experiencing, dealing with, or how they understand the situation.

We need to realize that when we are picking apart the house it is because we are trying to control the house instead of allowing God to be in control of us. When we are controlling, it means God does not have control of our life. It means we failed to take up our cross and follow Him today.

I want to be the woman who builds her house, not the foolish one tearing it down.

So, today I am praying to be the wise woman. To remember that I am a mother. A mother of many things, not just my children. If I want to build the house, I need to stop picking apart all the pieces and start placing some plaster and nails in to keep it together. I need to encourage, love and stop trying to control. I need to cover the house with prayer and Scripture and not pessimism and negativity. I need to take up my cross and follow Him. If I do that, If we do that, we start to build our house instead of tearing it down.