Proverb of the Week: (Courtesy of Leslie Pehl. Thanks Leslie!)
Better to live on the corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Proverbs 25:24
The Meditation: An Underrated Peace
Drama is in!
Look at the television listings today and you will be amazed at how much drama is on television! There are police and court room dramas galore! There’s supernatural drama and real-life drama. And then there’s family drama.
Family drama is big, especially on the soap operas. Usually these stories involve an all-too-proud husband, a couple of spoiled kids, and a quarrelsome wife. Mix in a few families with the same dynamics and you have a mighty explosion. Of course, they can never all get along. That’s the drama of it all. It starts when the wife gets fed up, the husband has an affair with the neighbor, and the kids are forgotten in the background. Then the fights, the revenge scenario, the breakups, each spouse finds a new mate, and the whole thing starts over again. The entertainment is in the who’s going where with whom...I think.
Of course that’s television, right? These events don’t ever translate into “real life”...right?
Wrong!
These events happen every day all around us. And they’re nothing new. In fact, Proverbs itself warns its readers not to bring drama into their household. From its warnings over child raising:
“Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.” (Prov. 19:18)
To it’s warnings over quarreling...
“A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is alike constant dripping.”
(Prov. 19:13)
You could almost say that much of Proverbs is written to help extinguish drama in the household.
Drama might be entertaining when its happening to other people, but it can be extremely destructive when its happening to you. Drama can rip your family apart. It can create wounds that will never heal. It can separate parents, squash passion, and put everyone at odds with each other. Real drama is a terrible thing.
Thus Proverbs warns against quarreling, the foundation of drama. I often watch Dr. Phil, and one of the tactics he uses to wake parents up to their ways is to film them. A camera in the home will often capture things we don’t even realize we’re doing. And these parents and spouses who quarrel so much and bring drama alive in their homes never realize the impact that quarrel has on the children and on each other. They don’t listen to what they’re saying when they’re saying it. Everything is said for dramatic effect and to hurt the other person.
What if we could gain that distance without being on national television? What if we could understand the effect our words have on our spouses and children without having to hurt them at all?
That’s the purpose of Proverbs! To warn us! To help us see the futility of our quarrels.
When we’re arguing with our spouse, we can remember:
“Better to live on the corner of a house than to share a home with a quarrelsome spouse.”
And we can realize just how stupid we’re coming across as.
Or just before we choose yet another battle we just can’t win we can think:
“...a quarrelsome spouse is like constant dripping.”
Or before we make one more stupid comment on the cooking in our home we can know:
“Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.”(Prov. 17:1)
See, each and every verse can help us live a more peaceful life with our children, our family, and our spouses so that the drama we experience in life is only seen on television from the comfort of our peaceful living room. Amen.
Questions to Ponder
1) How pleasant are you to live with? Is your house full of conflicts and quarrels?
2) What part do YOU have to play in the drama that happens in your home? How could you step out of your part to squash the drama?
3) Should the Bible be used to improve our life? What other good advice have you found in its pages?
A Prayer to Pray
Almighty God, you have blessed us with families and communities. Shower your peace upon us that we might be patient and kind to others, for Jesus sake. Amen.
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