THE VIRTOUS WIFE:Her Devotion as a Homemaker.

No place in her life for self-indulgence; no place for laziness; no place for inactivity, she is full of energy in the duties of the home. She takes great delight in her work- rather than being a laborious and boring chore; it is pleasant and enjoyable.

Toil need not be tedious; it can be a tremendous source of pleasure and satisfaction. In our modern, computerized, electronic, entertainment-saturated society we have almost lost the art of working with our hands. Most women don't delight in making clothes with their hands; they delight in shopping for them instead, and thus adversely affecting the family budget. Instead of learning from their mothers how to sew and knit and crochet and mend, many children are too busy watching television or playing computer games. Unfortunately most mothers do not even know how to do these things and could not teach their children even if they wanted to. Our mothers spend countless hours knitting and crocheting and sewing, but these things are becoming a lost art.

Personal testimony; I always become a bit irritable when I ask my mother to fix or maybe sow something for me, because before she does it, she will boast about how she took agriculture and home economics as subjects in school- as irritable as I may be, it is the necessary truth I need to hear so I can consider instilling first such skills in my daughter before giving her worldly knowledge. Ellen White tells us in the book Adventist Home that the most important education in a child’s life begins at home, where they learn how to care for the home and tend for themselves.

The virtuous woman does these things without complaint or begrudging, she finds joy in this labour. Why?  Because she loves the people for whom she does it. It is her love that drives her. Her hands are active after the pleasure of her heart.  It is not hard for her to do these things; it is not an unwilling thing because she loves the people she serves. She loves her work because she loves her family- its value is connected to who she does it for.  Because of such deep devotion to her husband and her children, she willingly denies herself and takes on the most menial of tasks with the greatest amount of pleasure, because she understands that they are an outgrowth of her deep love for those people in her family.

The virtuous woman awakes at the crack of dawn (after being rested well-enough), to prepare for her family to get a good start on the day. She starts of by meditating on prayer because the duties ahead of her require strength and wisdom, and then gets on to plan the rest of the day’s activities. The virtuous woman is diligent, yet flexible and realistic.

Young women today, in many cases, hardly know how to prepare meals, and  families eat out frequently or order food that can be brought into the home.  How many families take time to sit down at a meal together around the table?  Often families don't eat together, don't pray together, don't read together, and as a result don't stay together.

She's entrepreneurial; with the little enterprise she has going.  It is wonderful when a woman is enterprising and if she has the time and the inclination and the talents and abilities to do things in the home that can benefit the family. The godly woman gives very careful thought to matters and doesn't do this rashly or on a sudden impulse.

The virtous wife

The Character of a Christian Wife.

A Christian wife is a wife who maintains an intimate relationship built on complete trust with her husband. The husband is at ease knowing that all he has is safe with the Christian wife, because she cares for him and he knows that. Through their love for one another; the husband knows that the wife would never do anything that would cause him sorrow, or suffering, or pain, or distress. He's never suspicious; he's never worried, he's not jealous, because she is absolutely trustworthy.   The Christian wife is in charge of the domestic matters in her home, because even if she works outside her home; the home is still her first priority. This kind of woman always has her husband’s best interests in her heart and she always seeks to build him up. Her desire is to make her husband every bit of the man that he can be-in every area. All the days of her life she is devoted to the wellbeing of her husband. Good times, bad times, times of plenty, times of little, times of sadness, times of happiness, sick times, well times-her love is ever and always devoted to the successes of her husband. She consistently seeks the very best and the noblest for the man who is her husband. She reveals her virtue by her consistent service on his behalf. Her love is so deep; it has purity and power, and devotion that never changes all her life long! His successes, his comfort, his reputation, his joy are her delight.   The Christian wife doe good and never evil, all the days of her life, and she is devoted to him being everything he can be. When necessary, because his highest good is her greatest desire, she will confront his sin and his weakness. And lovingly she will be a conscience-never unkind, and always submissive. She desires him to be everything he should be; because she loves her husband- she seeks his best interest.   She serves him; she cares for him. Her husband  is known as a man of great nobility and great respect, because of the contributions that she has made selflessly to him. She has done everything she can verbally, as well, to build his reputation, and never do anything to tear it down.