The Quarrelsome Wife

Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
(Pro 21:9)
Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.
(Pro 21:19)
Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
(Pro 25:24) (yes, it's in their twice, it's that serious!)
A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day;
(Pro 27:15)

I always got a good laugh out of these verses, and right up to this morning I read them them out loud as I was flipping the pages. Loving it! The words were so choice! Better to live not in a corner of the house, not in another room, but on the roof top, har-har-har, in the farthest possible spot, from the quarrelsome wife... get as far away from that tornado as possible! Whooo-eee, that guy nailed it! Hilarious.....until this morning.

Then after I got my good laugh today, reading that one out loud, the Lord brought the hammer down, pulled away the wool, opened my eyes, humbled me, whatever you want to call it...it dawned on me that the verse wasn't written to give husbands a good chuckle, to use as ammo on their wives... it was written as instruction to the man, to give wisdom to the man. Yes, a quarrelsome wife is a very, very unpleasant experience, but why, WHY, is she quarrelsome? What put her in that position, that mood, that dripping?

Dirty socks two inches away from the hamper, almost there, but not quite.

Dishes, stacking up, with dried bits of food that are now concrete sculptures, waiting to be chiseled. Ooh, they were under the sink, directly under the gaze of the faucet, but the lever was never lifted...too heavy to exert the energy to bring the water.

None of this hitting home? Maybe it's because you're not looking at the root like me? What is the cause of the quarrelsome wife? Most of the time, it's us men.

How is it that the car keys are always misplaced, and it's never our fault, but hers? She has to find everything for me.

How about plain exhaustion? She's tired, eyes drooping and just wanting a few minutes of quiet, and we come in and say those lovely, heartfelt words, "What's for dinner?"

Or my #1 quarrelsome wife instigator: "What's your problem?"

What about when they need our help, our pitching in, and we are unavailable, we've drifted off to another room, we're surfing the internet, we're 'busy'. We've been working all day and we think we just deserve to come home and unplug.

Not too funny anymore, not for me anyway. I feel like I'm the puppy that just pooped on the floor and the the Lord is the master, dragging my nose through it so I don't forget. When He decides to humble, it can really be a drag...

As I was laughing about those verses this morning, I felt the knock...and the Lord turned the tables. What can we do to honor and respect them, make them feel loved and cherished, and then what don't we do, to bring about the wife mentioned in these verses? Something to think about, but something that also requires hands and feet. Action. Not just words and thoughts...

I could just erase this blog, instead of posting it, making myself accountable. I could just delete, backspace....never admitting that anything ever dawned on me... I could do that, how many guys are wishing I had?