Building, Part I

I've been thinking about that verse found in Proverbs 14.1:
"A wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears her down."

I've been trying to build that house well, so I can be wise, you know?

Get all the right materials...a good house, healthy food, good books, limit T.V., good music, strong education, proper resources and influences, and, and, and....

I'm tired.  Worn out.  Always feeling like I'm not building well enough.  That there are so many errors, some because I'm ignorant and others because I'm careless or selfish.

Rethinking the verse, though, has made me wonder if it's not so much about the materials as about being wise.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1.7.

I think maybe the woman who's building her house is living a life in pursuit of the Lord.  She's seeking wisdom from above, not from a parenting manual or a picture in her head of how things should look.

This morning I accidentally read John 8.9: "At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there."  (I was supposed to be reading John 8.19...)

Yet the verse struck me.  All her accusers were gone.  It was Jesus standing there alone with her and her alone with Jesus.  No one else.  Nothing else.

Then I turned to Ephesians 1, "he decided to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault--we who stand before him covered with his love."

I am that woman.  I stand before Him covered with His love.

I seek His wisdom and trust by doing so my house will be built, even when I feel like I'm tearing it down with my own hands. 

Seek Him.  Seek wisdom.  And the building will come.

photos: cherry harvest 2011